(The Boston Globe published the following story by Mac Daniel on its website on August 6.)
BOSTON — An MBTA commuter rail conductor was awaiting disciplinary action yesterday after he was charged with assault and battery on a police officer and with resisting arrest late Saturday night.
The conductor was Stephen Hurley, 28, of Stoneham, who works for the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad, the consortium that took over T commuter rail operations last month.
T police said Hurley became enraged when a train supervisor and an MBTA police officer escorted him to a superintendent’s office at South Station for a drug and alcohol test after passengers reported that he was intoxicated and had threatened them.
A T police report said that on more than one occasion inside the office, Hurley stepped toward the officer with clenched fists while threatening him. The report quoted him as telling the officer, ”I’ll bounce your jaw off my fist.”
As Hurley approached him on one occasion, the T officer sprayed him twice with pepper spray, telling him to lie on the ground and place his hands behind his back. ”He still would not comply,” said T spokesman Joe Pesaturo.
Police said Hurley then hit the officer, striking the officer’s left forearm with a closed fist. The officer then used his baton to strike Hurley’s arms and defend himself, Pesaturo said. ”Only after the suspect became exhausted was the officer able to place him in custody.”
Hurley was taken to New England Medical Center for treatment of a laceration and a contusion on his left arm. He was later released, transported to T police headquarters, and charged.
Pesaturo said Hurley is currently ”out of service” and awaiting a disciplinary hearing. There is also an internal investigation in the officer’s actions ”because of the use of force, but that is standard operating procedure,” Pesaturo said.
A spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad could not be reached for comment.
It was the second incident in the past month in which a T worker was accused of being intoxicated while on the job. In early July, a T bus driver pleaded not guilty to a drunken-driving charge after he was pulled over at the wheel of a Route 119 bus in Revere. Thomas DiBiase Jr., 48, of Revere, a part-time T driver for the past year, told police he had been drinking, and he failed two field sobriety tests before being arrested, authorities said. Police were called after a passenger called T police to report the bus was being driven erratically.