Chelsea Police Department Arrest Man Who Used Bus to Assault Officer The Chelsea Police Department and Massachusetts State Police Detectives assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office are continuing the investigation of 23 year old Rene Lopez of Chelsea who was arrested by Chelsea Police Wednesday
evening. At approximately 2208 hrs, Chelsea officers were alerted that a school bus was stolen from a secured location on Crescent Avenue in the City. Witnesses report that the bus crashed through the locked gate and drove away on the busy street driving erratically. Shortly thereafter, several Chelsea units observed the bus and attempted to stop it in the heavily congested downtown area. Mr. Lopez disobeyed all commands by officers to stop and continued operating the bus on several streets disregarding traffic control signals and signage nearly striking several motorists. Due to the dangerousness of the vehicle and the heavy traffic, Chelsea Police
Officers followed at a distance alerting area police departments as the bus continued operating in an extremely hazardous manner onto the Revere Beach Parkway in Everett. The bus eventually collided with an SUV causing injuries to the two occupants after failing to stop at a red light near Santilli Circle in Everett. At that point, a 21 year veteran Chelsea Sergeant who was following the bus attempted to pull along side and ordered Mr. Lopez to stop the vehicle. While attempting this action witnesses observed the bus swerve directly into the Sergeant’s police cruiser and pin and drag the officer’s vehicle several feet along the median. The
Sergeant believing his life was in eminent danger discharged his weapon striking Mr. Lopez once in the shoulder. The bus came to rest and Mr. Lopez was removed and immediately administered medical aid and transported to MGH Boston where he was treated and released this morning. The officer involved shooting aspect of this case remains under investigation. It is standard operating procedure in any situation where a weapon is discharged by a Chelsea officer causing bodily injury, the State Police assigned to the District Attorney in the County where the shooting occurred shall conduct a comprehensive, fair and impartial investigation before a final determination is made as
to the justifiability of the use of force. It appears at this preliminary stage based on interviews conducted with witnesses on scene that the discharge of the weapon by the Chelsea Officer was within department policy. Mr. Lopez was arraigned in Chelsea District Court today on several charges and was ordered held by Judge Lamonthe at the secured facility at Bridgewater for evaluation and will return to Chelsea District Court on June 9th for a bail hearing. The investigation is on-going as Mr. Lopez faces additional charges in Middlesex County. |
