Public safety report: Speeding argument that escalated to threats resolved peacefully

On Sept. 24 at 9:08 a.m. police responded to a report of a fight at 28 Taylor St. When they arrived, officers found two parties — an Uber driver and a pedestrian — who had been engaged in a verbal altercation.

Both parties agreed that the driver was traveling down the street when the pedestrian crossed in front of his car. The Uber driver told the police that the other man had slapped his window and told him to slow down, and the pedestrian said that the car was traveling at a high speed — which a witness at the scene confirmed — and he was afraid it might hit him.

When the driver of the car emerged to inspect it for damage, the situation escalated into a verbal argument. At some point in the argument, the pedestrian — who says he felt intimidated by the driver’s body language — picked up a rock and threatened to hit the driver. At this point, the driver dialed the police, and both parties waited without further incident until police arrived. 

The responding officer interviewed both parties and the witness, and, determining that the driver credibly believed he was going to be assaulted, summoned the pedestrian to court for assault with a dangerous weapon.

Additional public safety actions

Between 7 a.m. on Sept. 24 and 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 30, the most common types of incidents recorded in the police’s public blotter — not counting check-ins from patrol cars — were responses to alarms, dropped 911 calls, or reports of loud noises that did not result in further incident, at approximately 13% of all logged items; traffic incidents, at approximately 11% of items; medical calls, at around 7%; and traffic stops conducted by police, at around 5%. 

Not all police incidents are logged in the blotter — items related to domestic violence, for example, are often not in the publicly available police blotter based on state law about publishing information on domestic violence. Occasionally, items in the blotter are also mislogged; for example, a civil dispute or lost and found item call originally reported as a larceny may still be logged under “larceny.”

A summary of public safety activity from Sept. 24 to Sept. 30 is as follows:

On Sept. 24 at 2:36 p.m., a school van was involved in an accident with a car in front of McDevitt Middle School. There were no injuries to either driver, nor to the two kids in the school van, and only minor vehicle damage was reported.

At 5:15 p.m. a police officer witnessed a man appear to conduct a monetary transaction with someone in the driver’s seat of a passing car on Lowell Street. The car left, but the officer approached the man, who said he was on his way home and volunteered that he hadn’t purchased any drugs, stating that the car’s driver had asked him to hold on to some vitamins. The officer requested to examine the bag the man received, which contained vials of two types of anabolic steroids — testosterone and trenbalome. They arrested the man on a charge of possession of class E restricted substances. 

The officer could not locate the person in the car, but the arrested man identified him as John J. Graham III, who was arrested and charged with possession of class E restricted substances. Graham is currently awaiting a Lavallee hearing before his case can proceed.

At 6:24 and 6:35 p.m., police logged two drug-related incidents at the police station at 155 Lexington St. that are part of an active investigation.

At 10: 05 p.m. police responded in a peacekeeping capacity to a domestic disturbance on Second Avenue.

On Sept. 25 at 5:06 p.m., firefighters responded to a report of a fire on a utility pole on Seminole Avenue. They controlled the spread of the fire by spraying down scattered embers using water from a neighbor’s property. An Eversource team arrived on scene to deenergize the fire so firefighters could put it out.

At 6:16 p.m. police assisted the state police cybercrime unit, in conjunction with other state police units and the Watertown Police Department, in executing a search warrant at 251 Ridge Lane. Officers found items indicating that the resident, Stephen McDonough, was in possession of child sexual abuse material, and matched items in his home to images indicating he had been disseminating the material via instant messaging app Kik. Police arrested him on charges of possession of child pornography and distributing material of a child in a sexual act, charges to which he pled not guilty at his arraignment the next day. McDonough is currently in Middlesex Jail in Billerica. 

At 10:23 p.m. police arrived at the Residence Inn at 250 Second Avenue to respond to reports of a domestic disturbance. Upon arrival, the scene appeared calm, but the officer observed controlled substances in the room, and arrested Henry Chen and Danielle Riccio for possession of Class B and Class C substances. Both Chen and Riccio pled not guilty to the charge at their arraignments the next day.

On Sept. 26 at 1:27 p.m., police responded to a call of breaking and entering of a vehicle on Middle Street. Upon arrival, they discovered the car was unentered and there was no sign of a break-in; a man nearby told them he had been looking at the car earlier as a vehicle enthusiast.

At 3:32 p.m. police declared a white Mercedes that had been parked on Melody Lane for multiple weeks abandoned, after attempts to contact the registered owner met with no success.

At 6:15 p.m. police responded in a peacekeeping capacity to a domestic disturbance on Second Avenue.

On Sept. 27 at 2:02 p.m., police received reports of a man in black clothing apparently puncturing the tires of two cars parked in the upper deck of the Embassy Municipal Parking Lot on Pine Street. The man left the area on foot down Pine Street, and officers were not able to identify or locate anyone matching his description, although they observed an additional broken windshield at the scene. This remains an active investigation.

At 5:08 p.m. police received a report of a Rockhopper brand mountain bike taken from where it was locked to a railing at the St. Jude’s at Cunniff West Elementary School building on Main Street. The bike was valued at $600. The police have not determined any suspects at this time, and this remains an active investigation.

On Sept. 29 at 10:02 a.m., a driver pulled out of their lane on Trapelo Road, crossed the double-solid center line, and continued traveling on the wrong side of the street. In the process, they side swiped another car. The operator of the damaged vehicle was able to provide the offending vehicle’s registration plate, which police used to identify its operator; the driver has been summoned to court for leaving the scene of an accident, driving left of center and driving with a suspended license.

On Sept. 30 at 10:07 a.m., police deployed a drone unit from the police station at 155 Lexington St. to assist the Weston Police Department in looking for a motor vehicle.

All information was obtained from spokespeople with the Waltham Police and Fire Departments and the publicly available police blotter.