By Irene Rotondo
masslive.com
WAKEFIELD, Mass. — A 19-year-old on a motorcycle refused to stop for police last Wednesday, causing a physical altercation with a trooper that ended with the motorcyclist trying to run the officer over, nearly pushing him into oncoming traffic, according to video from a Massachusetts State Police cruiser’s dash cam.
On July 5, a trooper saw the teen, later identified as 19-year-old Colin James Webb, of Reading, riding his motorcycle “erratically” on Interstate 95 in Wakefield, and tried to pull him over, police said.
The trooper followed the motorcyclist, without emergency lights on, off an exit from the highway, police said. The 19-year-old then came to a stop on the road in front of the trooper, the department stated.
The trooper exited his cruiser and approached Webb, and ordered him to stop and turn off his motorcycle, as heard in the cruiser dash cam video.
Webb did not comply with the trooper’s orders, turning off and on again his motorcycle, and then tried to drive from the scene with the trooper still standing in front of the motorcycle, the video shows.
The trooper was pushed running backward by the motorcycle as the teen accelerated, struggling to stay upright while still trying to stop the motorcycle while it cut across lanes of traffic going through a red light, the video showed.
Both the teen and the trooper came close to hitting the side of a white pickup truck that crossed in front of them, as depicted in the video. The trooper, still on his feet but pushed to the side, finally let go of the motorcycle at the last moment, avoiding being hit by the truck and allowing the motorcyclist to speed away.
Webb faced 12 charges following the altercation with various degrees of assault. These were assault and battery on a police officer and assault with a dangerous weapon. Webb was also charged with refusing to identify himself to police.
His motor vehicle charges included negligent operation of a motor vehicle, number plate violation, speeding, failure to stop or to yield at traffic signals, to yield at an intersection and to stop for police, marked lanes and breakdown violations, and missing number plate.
The Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, Colonel John Mawn Jr., called the incident “brazen” and a “deliberately violent” assault committed by a “motivated offender.”
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