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6-22-2023 11:17pm
Police Log: Drive-By Pellet Shooting; Medflight for Motorcyclist after Serious Accident
Darlene Cancell
Editor
The news described in Westwood Minute's weekly Police Log article series is primarily based on selected information from the Westwood Police Department's daily log and information provided by Lieutenant Christopher Sheehy and police staff. Occasionally, a few facts from other sources may be woven into these stories.
Friday, June 16th
Repayment is Not Enough
8:45 a.m. A man who is a Westwood resident explained to Westwood Police and Wegmans loss prevention staff that an adult, female family member had been in Wegmans the previous day and stole personal care items such as dental floss, Orajel, and analgesics. They were worth about $30. The man intended to pay for the stolen items.
Wegmans loss prevention staff agreed to this resolution, but also gave two notices of trespass to the man for himself and his relative.
Check Stolen from Mailbox
3:42 p.m. A resident of Partridge Drive reported a stolen check. Sometime after placing the envelope with check in a mailbox, the resident noticed that the envelope was ripped open, with the check missing.
Motorcyclist with Serious Injuries Gets Medflight
4:02 p.m. Police responded to the scene of an accident on Providence Highway where a motorcyclist was seriously injured. According to the police report, a 2010 Audi driven by a woman from Jamaica Plain was headed south and attempted to make a U-turn into the northbound lanes. In doing so, the Audi cut off the path of a 2016 Honda motorcycle. The motorcycle struck the rear of the Audi, seriously injuring the motorcyclist.
Westwood Fire paramedics transported the victim to the Southwest office park. From there, a medflight helicopter transported the victim to Massachusetts General Hospital.
Police cited the driver of the Audi with failing to yield the right of way. Police are also in possession of dash cam video of the accident from an individual who was parked at Lamberts Plaza on the same road.
Police Track Down Driver Who Fled Scene of Hit and Run Accident
5:04 p.m. A woman from Medway reported that a Jeep had been following her Cadillac too closely and tapped her rear bumper. The Jeep then reportedly passed the Cadillac on the left, by crossing over the yellow median line. It sideswiped the Cadillac, resulting in minor scrapes to the left, front bumper of the Cadillac. There were no injuries reported. The incident occurred on the 1300 block of High Street.
The woman driving the Cadillac recorded the incident on her cell phone. She also provided Westwood Police with a description of the Jeep and its license plate. Police tracked the plate to a Medfield owner.
Medfield Police assisted by verifying the address and identity of the Jeep’s driver. They advised the woman to call Westwood Police. The Medfield woman did so, but denied involvement in the hit-and-run.
With the video evidence and identification, however, Westwood Police issued the Medfield woman a criminal citation for negligent operation of a motor vehicle, a marked lanes violation, and leaving the scene of an accident.
Thursday, June 15th
Shoplifter Impersonates an Instacart Shopper
1:46 p.m. Loss prevention staff at Wegmans contacted police with a shoplifter in custody. The suspect was observed removing food worth $587.14 from the store without paying.
Loss prevention staff reported that the suspect had inquired about very expensive cuts of meat. He put them in a cart, acting as if he were scanning the items with his phone, possibly trying to impersonate an Instacart shopper. He placed the food into bags, and walked past the cash registers to the outside. When loss prevention staff confronted him, he cooperated and returned to the store. The man, a 33 year-old from Providence, Rhode Island, will receive a summons to court for shoplifting.
Shoplifters Attach Plates to Avoid Being Tracked
8:57 p.m. Police responded to Wegmans to take a report of stolen diapers and baby wipes, valued at approximately $30. The suspected shoplifters were described as a larger female with dark hair wearing a pink track suit and a male who was wearing a grey track suit. They both spoke with Irish accents. They were seen leaving in a dark colored Audi.
Wegmans staff were able to provide a license plate number to police. The pair were seen driving the Audi into the parking lot of Gables University Station Apartments.
Police discovered that the plate belonged to a Ford pickup truck, not the Audi.
Suspicious Activity on Little Boot Lane
9:32 p.m. An officer was dispatched to Little Boot Lane on the report of suspicious behavior. A resident told police that around 7:00 p.m., a woman rang the home’s doorbell several times and then placed two previously delivered packaged inside the foyer. When the resident called out asking the individual to identify herself, the woman ran away from the home. She was described as woman with blond hair, a white tee shirt, and black shorts. She was accompanied by a large black dog.
Wednesday, June 14th
Amazon Driver Suspected of Stealing while Making Delivery
7:25 p.m. A resident of Chamberlain Avenue reported that the driver of an Amazon delivery vehicle had stolen a skateboard from the front yard of her home around 4:18 p.m. that day. The resident’s security camera showed the driver making a delivery, with the skateboard in view on the front lawn. When the vehicle drove away, the skateboard was no longer in view.
Upon being contacted by police, Amazon informed police that the driver was employed by a Braintree company. Police are investigating. The value of the missing skateboard is approximately $40.
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Tuesday, June 13th
Rear-End Collision with Injuries at Rotary
11:04 a.m. Two people were separately transported by paramedics to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Needham as a result of a rear-end collision at the East Street rotary. The injured persons are a woman from Abington and her passenger. They were in a 2012 Toyota that was waiting to enter the rotary when a 2017 Jeep driven by a woman from Westwood struck the Toyota in the rear.
Resident Reports Being Shot by Pellet/BB Gun, But without Injury
4:58 p.m. An officer was dispatched to the area of Arcadia and Pond avenues to speak with a Westwood resident who reported being shot by a pellet gun or BB gun. She was not injured.
She reported walking on the sidewalk near Buckmaster Pond when she felt multiple pellets hit her back. She reported hearing a noise associated with the pellet strike. When she looked around, she saw a black pickup truck with a young male who was aiming an object out the back window, which she took to be a pellet or BB gun. She watched the pickup truck continue driving toward the Sheehan School and disappear from sight.
Several officers responded to the area but were unable to locate the vehicle. No pellets or projectiles were found on the sidewalk or street.
Monday, June 12th
Stolen Bike Recovered at Place of Theft
12:31 p.m. Police responded to University Avenue to speak to a resident of Weatherbee Drive who reported seeing a man with a bicycle which strongly resembled her son’s bicycle that was stolen the previous day from the same area. Her son had left his grey, Trek bicycle in the bike rack outside Target for about 15 minutes while he was inside the store. It was unlocked. When he returned, it was missing.
Officers spoke to the man suspected of having the boy’s stolen bike. When asked if the bike was his own, the man nodded. But when officers explained that a stolen bike closely resembled the bike in the man’s possession, the man stopped answering questions. He later told police that the bike was given to him by a female.
Police compared the sales invoice of the stolen bicycle with an identification sticker on the bicycle presently at hand. The owner of the stolen bike was able to open a combination lock on the bike which was in the man's possession. This confirmed that the man's bike and the stolen bike were one and the same.
The man, a 34 year-old with an address in Lynn, Massachusetts, was placed under arrest for receiving stolen property. Police also discovered during booking that the man had provided them a false name. An hour and a half after the arrest, the man was presented to Dedham District Court for his arraignment.
Unattended AirPods Stolen
2:45 p.m. A resident of Chestnut Hill reported the theft of AirPod Pros, valued at about $500, while at Life Time Fitness the day prior. The complainant had placed the AirPods on a bench with other items. When the owner returned to the bench few moments later, the AirPods were gone.
Using a phone app, the owner was able to track the AirPods to an address in Norwood. The address belonged to an apartment building with multiple units. The tracker was unable to locate the AirPods at any particular unit.
Thanks to Lieutenant Christopher Sheehy and Westwood Police for contributing information for this article.
