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Police: Motorcyclist strikes off-duty Mass. cop, flees

Suspect tracked down with help of K-9 unit

By Dick Lindsay
The Berkshire Eagle

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A city motorcyclist is behind bars after he allegedly struck an off-duty Pittsfield police officer working a traffic detail on Tuesday afternoon.

Shortly after 2 p.m., Malik Grandson, 20, of 47 John St., was approaching a road construction site on Silver Lake Boulevard, when Officer Sean Klink motioned the biker to stop. However, Grandson sped through the work area, striking one of Klink’s hands and dislocating a finger, an injury that didn’t require a trip to the hospital, according to police.

Police said Grandson refused to stop, believing he was about to be pursued by a Pittsfield police cruiser that had turned around, possibly headed toward him.

After Grandson fled the scene, he ditched the motorcycle in the area of Lake Street and apparently broke into a nearby residence, hiding in an apartment in order to avoid being arrested.

Police launched a neighborhood search and eventually found Grandson with the help of a police K-9 unit. Police had him in custody around 2:45 p.m.

Grandson is being charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, the motorcycle, operating to endanger, driving without a license, and breaking and entering in the daytime.

He is being held on $10,000 cash bail in the Pittsfield Police Depart ment jail, pending his arraignment this morning in Central Berkshire District Court.

Copyright 2012 The Berkshire Eagle