This boy was 12.ĭavid Daley lives in Haydenville and is author of “Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy. We cannot say his name because it cannot be released. We cannot say the name of the boy beaten by Holyoke police under Alex Morse’s tenure. We say the names of victims of excessive police force to express our outrage and shame. Morse’s campaign, meanwhile, according to Federal Election Commission reports, collected $1,900 from Officer Leahy’s brother, Patrick, also a Holyoke police officer, and $4,800 from Charles Emma, the Florida attorney who handled the case for the city. He was terrified of open spaces and the police. His mother testified that he spent the next several years being treated for anxiety and panic attacks, began to struggle in school, and often feared leaving the house, she said. Instead, this boy was left to struggle with the trauma of the arrest and his injuries. He didn’t take any meaningful public actions to hold his police department accountable for the beating of a 12-year-old boy who heroically tried to prevent a man from killing himself.
He didn’t launch an outside investigation or call for criminal charges. He didn’t call for the officers to resign. Morse was in the middle of his fourth term and a candidate for Congress. Those reforms arrived in June 2020 - more than six years after the beating - and amid national outrage over police brutality. He sent a link to a new Holyoke policy that attempts to enforce the proper reporting of excessive police force. He said that his department had undergone a transformation, that he was actively involved in hiring new officers, and that 90 percent of Holyoke police had now undergone deescalation training. Morse insisted that police should be held accountable, but did not answer whether his officers had been. When I e-mailed Morse’s campaign this week to ask about this case, he avoided specific questions and cited that non-disclosure agreement. As part of the settlement, the family signed a non-disclosure agreement. The city attorney suggested that under the circumstances the city was getting off easy. In January, Holyoke settled the police brutality suit against the city and officers for $65,000. When Dunn was asked in his deposition to explain the bruises and abrasions in photos, he suggested that the boy got them from “fighting with the police.” Dunn, meanwhile, claimed he didn’t know if he had to fill out a use of force report for hitting a civilian in the head. Lopez’s form, however, attested that the boy had been “assaultive” and did not mention his array of injuries. Only Lopez filed a use of force report, as required under both state law for injured prisoners and city policy. Leahy testified that he saw Lopez deliver those strikes while the boy lay prone. While Dunn punched the boy in the head and Leahy struck him on the side, Lopez delivered baton blows. “Although you’re not sure how many times all together, at least two?” “That’s when you think you punched him as hard as you could in the head?” Dunn is asked. “I remember hitting him as hard as I could,” Dunn said. Related : Read: Officer James Dunn's deposition They documented contusions to his head, face, chest, and back.
A day later, his mother took him to Bay State Medical Center, where doctors diagnosed a head injury, a left anterior scalp laceration, a deviated septum, and a small hematoma on the anterior left scalp. At the hospital, doctors diagnosed a concussion. After he was booked, he was taken by ambulance to Holyoke Medical Center, and vomited en route. Photos, medical records, and depositions fill in the details. He was taken to the police station, charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. When he came to in the patrol car, he testified, he had no memory of what had ensued. He felt a kick and soon, lost consciousness. But police then spied the 12-year-old, approximately 100 yards away.
The adult made clear that police arrested the only shooter. Holyoke police arrived and apprehended the shooter. When they crossed a canal downtown, the armed, suicidal man took several shots at passing cars. The boy followed him, hoping to help, as did a nearby adult. Along the way, the 12-year-old encountered a suicidal neighbor with a gun. 8, 2014, according to court records and depositions from the civil suit filed by the boy’s mother in 2017: The boy’s mom asked him to bring his younger brother home from shooting hoops. Here’s what happened around sunset on Feb. I wanted to see how Morse led his city when a child of color was beaten by Holyoke police, so I examined the publicly available court records and medical reports in this case.
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