By Heather Morrison
masslive.com
WORCESTER, Mass. — “Let me get out,” a Worcester police officer begged as the driver accelerated through Main Street traffic. The passenger was grabbing for the officer’s gun and pepper spray, creating a chaotic and dangerous struggle inside the moving car, body camera footage shows.
“That was a very, very life-threatening situation the officer was put in,” Worcester Police Chief Paul Saucier said of the Jan. 16, 2026, incident. Court documents echo his sentiments, stating, “if successful, these actions could have caused death to Officer Maracallo.”
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The situation started because John Slater, a man well-known to police and one of the individuals later involved in the struggle inside the car, stood in the middle of Main Street, “yelling, screaming and causing motorists to slow down,” court documents state.
When Officer Alexander Maracallo arrived, body camera footage shows him asking the driver, later identified as Sarah McMahon in court documents, what they were doing. She told him she was waiting for Slater, a friend, but denied doing any drugs.
“Do you think I was born yesterday?” the officer asked, pointing out the tin foil and open bags.
Slater then came to the car but gave the officer a false name. He got in the car, telling police he was getting his ID. Maracallo responded by saying they didn’t need his ID.
“What are you doing?” the officer asked.
As the officer moved to stop him, the situation quickly turned into a frantic struggle in the front seat.
“Go, go, go,” a man can be heard yelling, and the driver began moving the car, hitting a different police officer outside the car, police said.
“Stop the (expletive) car,” Maracallo yelled.
The fight continued with a man yelling “go,” while Maracallo pleaded for them to stop the speeding car, also yelling “you’re going to get shot.”
The driver and passenger pleaded for the officer to get off of Slater.
“Don’t hurt him,” McMahon yelled.
Eventually, Maracallo got the car to stop and yelled at everyone to get out as he continued fighting with Slater. Maracallo can be seen punching Slater, causing him to bleed, and choking him.
At about the same time, another officer handcuffed McMahon, who was lying on the ground outside the car.
“Get off of me,” Slater, who was still inside the car, said — his words coming out short and breathy.
Another police officer pulled Slater out of the car, causing his pants to fall off, and handcuffed him on the ground.
“Get off of him,” McMahon continued to yell.
Once the two were handcuffed, Maracallo walked away, breathing heavily.
“I lost my shoe,” he said.
The situation comes nearly two years after a Worcester judge and Slater’s mom made a plan to get Slater help. His history of charges goes back 10 years and multiple Massachusetts towns, including charges in connection with previously hitting a police officer’s leg with a car and shooting people with a paintball gun.
Prosecutors have been warning for years that Slater’s pattern of driving off after interactions with police showed a “continued theme.”
“He’s (expletive) back out again,” Maracallo said after finding out Slater’s real name.
A failed chance at rehabilitation
Courts have repeatedly found Slater dangerous. His mother hoped those decisions would be the turning point that brought him the help he’s long needed.
“This could all end,” Anna Coll said in 2024.
Coll told MassLive that year that her son was not the criminal painted by police and prosecutors.
Slater’s “not a fighter, he’s not violent, but he is aggressive,” she said. Before his 2024 hearing, she said her son was lovable and “like a hippy.”
She hoped keeping Slater in custody would mean he would be away from anyone enabling him to take drugs or cause harm — ending his path as a criminal.
On April 4, 2024, Slater was driving on a suspended license while working for DoorDash, police said. A police officer reached his arm inside Slater’s car to unlock the door and arrest him. Slater deeply inhaled his vape device and drove off with the back of his car striking the officer’s leg and causing him to lose his balance, the police report said.
Police officers “circled the area and we were unable to locate the vehicle,” according to the police report.
Then, on April 17, 2024, detectives saw Slater’s Chevy Cruze while patrolling in the area of Green Hill Park. The detectives tried to get him to pull over, but he continued to drive off “in a manner that showed complete disregard for the safety of pedestrians,” police wrote. The detectives did not pursue him.
Two days later, when he again failed to stop for Worcester police, they notified the Massachusetts State Police.
Slater led State Police on a chase along the Massachusetts Turnpike heading east toward Millbury before he made a U-turn and drove the wrong way into a police cruiser, which police believe was on purpose. The driver’s side and back end of the Chevy were damaged as a result.
Police said the then-21-year-old continued driving the wrong way on Interstate 90. State Police units and an Air Wing were deployed to follow Slater and the Chevy, but lost him.
Police finally arrested Slater on April 24, 2024.
After spotting Slater, Officer Anthony Lombardozzi ran out of his cruiser toward Slater and tried to grab him. Slater closed his car door, but Lombardozzi opened it “and began to attempt to take a violently resisting Mr. Slater into custody,” Lombardozzi wrote in the police report.
Three police officers pulled Slater from the car, but he continued to resist arrest, and it “took numerous attempts and an unknown amount of time” to get Slater to the ground, according to court documents.
As more officers came to their aid, Lombardozzi wrote that they still could not get Slater’s arm behind his back as he “was continually putting his hands under his body ... in what I believed was an attempt for him to retrieve a weapon to harm either myself or other officers on scene.”
Police finally placed him in handcuffs, but Slater “continued his tirade and continually resisted and moved” in a way that looked like he would escape, Lombardozzi wrote.
On Aug. 22, 2024, Slater pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in the Worcester County House of Correction.
Many of the charges he faced in district court prior to pleading guilty in 2024 were dismissed. He has also been indicted in Worcester Superior Court twice, once in 2021 and again in 2022. He pleaded guilty in connection with the 2021 incident in Superior Court and charges were dismissed in the 2022 Superior Court case.
Before his mother left the courtroom in May 2024 following a dangerousness hearing, Coll and the judge agreed that, once the 2024 case was over, Slater’s next step was to seek rehabilitation with the help of a professional.
“He’ll have outside help,” she said. “This is just the start. (This is) opening up a door to (give him) proper help.”
However, that would have to wait. During the May 2024 hearing, he was deemed dangerous and remained in the Worcester County House of Correction.
Despite the earlier commitment to seek help for Slater, it’s unclear what, if anything, was done once he finished his 18-month sentence. To Saucier, though, the concern is unchanged: he believes Slater remains a threat.
“He’s a threat to the public, he’s a threat to the police. That person should be in prison. And I don’t know why he’s out there,” he said.
Health issues
Coll said her son has been struggling with health issues, including seizures, as a result of a violent car crash in Worcester.
Seated in the passenger seat, Slater hit his head against the window of a car while his friend in the driver’s seat reached over and held him back.
“I think (that crash) plays a big role when he’s high,” Coll said about why her son uses fentanyl.
But Coll said the death of Slater’s paternal grandmother has played a role in his drug abuse. She died in his room.
“John doesn’t care if he dies,” she continued. “He just wants to be with her. It’s like a connection (between him and his grandmother) in that house.”
On Christmas Eve 2023, a few months after felony charges in connection with intimidation were dismissed, Slater overdosed on fentanyl, Coll said. The family was more scared for his safety than ever, she said.
Still, his reckless behavior continued.
Use of force
Immediately after the Jan. 16, 2026 , incident, Maracallo can be heard informing fellow officers and a sergeant that he punched McMahon and Slater. He can also be seen with his hand around Slater’s neck during the struggle inside the car.
Maracallo can be heard saying he hurt his hand from the punches and foot due to the car door closing on it while he was trapped. He, along with McMahon, Slater and a police officer who was hit by the car, were taken to the hospital to be evaluated.
The Worcester Police Department has been sharply criticized for its use of excessive and unjustified force in a 2024 Justice Department report following a two-year investigation. The report mentions dangerous and unreasonable head strikes.
But this, Saucier said, was an officer fighting for his life.
“People think that the police are superhuman. We get hurt, too. There’s cops getting killed every single day,” he said.
Only by the grace of God, Saucier said, is this officer still working.
“If that car took a different turn, instead of going straight on Main Street and took a left turn, (and) that door flew open, he was getting thrown from the vehicle,” Saucier said. “And then again, you never know if that guy’s gonna have a weapon. I mean, if that guy had a gun or a knife, it’s over.”
Still, Maracallo’s actions are under review by the Bureau of Professional Standards to determine whether the force used was objectively reasonable in light of the totality of the circumstances.
“Again, just to make sure everything was in policy or if there are any training deficiencies that we need to address,” Saucier said. “So it’s a whole line of things that happens whenever officers use force.”
These types of incidents can also keep people from joining the police department in the future, a concerning issue as the city’s police department is currently down 58 officers.
“At one point, you were brought up to respect the law, respect police; nowadays, that doesn’t happen,” Saucier said. He pointed to a massive post-blizzard snowball fight in New York that ended with police officers being pelted and injured.
“And it does deter some people from wanting this job,” he said.
January 2026
On Feb. 2 , Slater was once again deemed dangerous by Worcester courts.
He was charged with assault to murder, kidnapping, attempt to disarm a police officer, assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest. He was also in possession of three glass pipes containing crack cocaine, police said.
McMahon also faces multiple charges, including assault to murder, kidnapping and drug charges.
Slater’s return to crime in Worcester isn’t completely surprising to Saucier.
“Most of the people causing the problems in society are the same people,” he said. “It’s a very small percentage of people that actually commit the violence, and that’s why we target those individuals.”
But it can be disheartening to officers who spend months working on an investigation, take a dangerous person off the streets, only to encounter them again, the police chief explained.
“And then when they get back out, after we spent all that time putting them in, that’s very disheartening to the officers, all the work they do,” he said. “And look at (Slater). This cop could have been killed very easily.”
Saucier strongly supports diversion programs, especially for people under 18. Still, he worries that repeated leniency toward some individuals could lead to a tragic outcome for an officer.
The Worcester District Attorney’s office is unable to comment on ongoing cases.
Slater is being held in Worcester County House of Correction until at least May 15, when he is expected to return to court.
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