Bill Humphrey wants to succeed Ward 5 Councilor John Rice but he’s not just focused this summer on Waban, the Highlands and Upper Falls.
Ward 5 City Council candidate criticizes cops in…. Mashpee
by Greg Reibman | Aug 2, 2018 | City Council elections, Public safety | 60 comments
OK, what’s the point of this post?
How dare he question the actions of a police officer?
Most departments require their officers to end high-speed chases when it becomes clear that the public has been put in danger. Pending an investigation, it’s quite possible that police actions in this case may be determined to have contributed to Mr. Quinn’s death.
The point is that this candidate has strong negative opinions about police in general and, as a councilor, would be in contact with the police department, have to approve budgets that include the police personnel, etc. My assumption is that Bill will take the time to research the scope of police work in Newton, but time will tell.
The real point here is that there is already a nasty negative campaign underway for that W5 seat. Those who support Humphrey are trying to demonize Kathy Winters as an NVA supported anti-development NIMBY masquerading as reasonable. Those who support Winters are trying to demonize Humphrey as an out of touch loose cannon. Both sides might be right, and maybe a more mainstream candidate will emerge, but all this tweet shows is that Humphrey, like many of us, is concerned about over aggressive police actions. What’s wrong with that?
I didn’t read all of the tweets about this, but of the ones I saw via the TAB article, Councilor Jim Cote, who refuses to disavow family separations, and WAAF morning show host Greg Hill are both right-wing Trump supporters. Folks might not know that Bill is a prominent voice for progressive causes and has a large Twitter following. So not surprising he has drawn a reaction from these types of folks.
I think all of this is incredibly unfair to Bill. The TAB article was published online before the reporter reached out to ask Bill for a comment. I don’t know if anyone from the TAB has contacted Bill yet, but posting a story like that without even having the decency to contact the person the (negative) article is written about smacks of yellow journalism.
On the merits, I would note that the Mashpee Chief of Police has started an investigation into whether the officer involved in the high speed chase followed the department’s policy about pursuit. From the Globe article:
The driver of the car that was pursued, his passenger, and the other driver, Kevin P. Quinn, a former Marine who served two tours in Afghanistan and was on his way home after visiting his wife and newborn daughter at the hospital.
In this Trumpian era, it is not unusual for people to say outrageous things on Twitter–particularly the Cheeto-in-Chief. (See what I did there?) But that does not give the media a free pass when a reporter does not offer the subject of a negative article to comment or explain what he meant. And I am kind of worried that Greg Reibman did not pick up on that. @Greg, did you reach out to Bill before posting this blog? If not, shame on you.
What a poor pair of candidates. They both fit right in with the dominant constituencies in this city. #NewtonIsSpecial, #WeGetWhoWeDeserve
@Jane, maybe he’s concerned about repeated cases of police misconduct, very few of which have ever resulted in criminal prosecutions or even administrative punishment.
Maybe he’s concerned about the fraternalistic culture which gave rise to pervasive, systematic wrongdoing at the Massachusetts State Police and which any logical person would assume occurs at most other police departments in the Commonwealth.
Maybe he’s upset that every single one of the 12 highest earners on the City of Boston, with compensation ranging from $287,000 to $366,000, were at the Boston Police Department, while the average Boston schoolteacher made one-fourth of that.
Maybe he would like to see some form of credible oversight of law enforcement agencies across the country.
I don’t think Mr. Humphrey needs to “take the time to research the scope of police work in Newton” any more than you need to take the time to research any of the above.
I think THM is on to something here. This “story” is nothing more than GateHouse looking for easy page views.
I did speak to the TAB this afternoon, but they did not reach out to me for any comment before running a piece essentially based on a non-Newton right-wing blog’s smear campaign against me. The author isn’t based anywhere near Newton as far as I can tell; I think he’s from the Cape. I do wish Greg had contacted me before posting this here too, since I could have provided additional context, and I’m already being subjected to a wide-scale harassment campaign by people who don’t live here.
Perhaps I could have worded things slightly better in the original tweet, but very few of the attacks on me have acknowledge the other tweets (including the ones attached to the original one) about how my family has lost friends and neighbors to these extremely dangerous pursuits, which is why it’s an issue I have cared about for many years. However, it’s not an issue I’m running on in my campaign. I just happened to remark upon a news story. In my campaign, I’m focused on environmental action, transportation, affordable housing, and other issues Ward 5 voters care about.
That being said, I encourage everyone to check out the data on the more than 5,000 bystanders nationwide (nearly 100 in MA) killed in these pursuits https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/high-speed-chases/
and about how many municipalities are banning or severely restricting the practice due to the public danger (and danger to the officers themselves): https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a9096/why-high-speed-police-chases-are-going-away-15532838/
Folks might remember the 2007 fatalities in Somerville that led to policy changes: http://archive.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/11/11/trooper_pursuit_policy_revised/ Or the Fox 25 investigation on the 900+ state chases with 132 crashes: https://www.boston25news.com/news/fox25-investigates-state-police-logged-900-pursuits-in-5-years/318809260
The Twitter account is just my personal account in which I talk about various things in the news of the state, nation, and world as well as just my hobbies. That particular tweet was not meant to be some kind of campaign statement. The election is over a year away and I can’t really tweet exclusively about this race for that entire time without running out of material. I do tweet about all the events and community meetings I’ve been going to (as I always do even when I’m not running for office).
A couple of thoughts here:
We often throw topics against the wall here and see what sticks. In this case, I saw something that I thought was semi-interesting (more on that in minute) that also offered a reprieve from the marijuana threads and posted it.
I spent less than 60 seconds on the whole thing. I didn’t take any particular view.
I didn’t say, I agreed or disagreed.
I had no agenda.
Nor did I think this was so controversial that Bill needed to be asked what he meant first. It’s wasn’t 12 hours before an election and this was going to sink his campaign.
And it was, after all, his tweet. Explaining his tweet is his responsibility, not mine.
Plus, I knew Bill would comment here as he has often before.
And heck, the guy is running for office folks. It’s not like i just posted an item about some random resident’s tweet.
I did think it was, as I said “semi-interesting” because we just went through a year where we debated about Ward Councilors being in touch with their immediate neighbors and here was a ward councilor who takes on issues outside his ward.
Is that good? Bad?
That’s one of the reasons this blog exists…so we can talk about these things.
Greg, my only concern about this is just the fact that hundreds of people (almost all outside Newton) have been sending me flat-out abuse (and vague threats) over this for the past four days — AND that I had only just a bit earlier today been given the opportunity to offer a comment to the Wicked Local folks regarding the extremely slanted clickbait they had posted, which is what you were referring people toward. I don’t think an update has (or had) been added yet at that point. I wasn’t suggesting you were endorsing it, but just that I’m concerned about the potential for threats ramping up further. The less context there is, the worse that’s going to get.
In terms of whether it’s local or not, frequent Village 14 contributor Sean Roche pointed out on Twitter the other day that sometimes police here drive fast without the audible sirens when responding to a 911 call and that could (similarly) present a safety risk to innocent people walking or cycling around. Again, this isn’t really a campaign issue for me, but it is a state and national issue with local dimensions.
Whether you live on the Cape or in California or in Newton, no one wants their child or loved one being struck by a vehicle at a high rate of speed, for any reason, whether it’s related to police action or not. I’m just trying to raise awareness of this.
@Greg – if that was your intent, why not link to the tweet instead of the clickbait story?
@Meredith: Because, as the conversation here has proven, the fact that it was on Wicked Local is also discussion worthy don’t you think?
@Bill: It may not be “a campaign issue for you” but when you run for office, the voters, not you, get to decide which of your actions they choose to consider.
Greg, Bill is not saying that anything in the Tab article is factually incorrect. He is not disputing that he was the author of the tweet. He is running for office. This is a real story.
Here are the facts. Bill acted immaturely. He tweeted that “police in Massachusetts have killed an innocent person…” This is not only a lie; it denigrates the involved police officers. Google the real killer, “Mickey Rivera rap sheet.” You will see that he was a gang banger who just posted bail and should have been in jail. The car was not “just speeding.” He was driving erratically and ran through multiple stop signs. The officers probably saw his lengthy record when they ran the vehicle’s plates. No evidence has been presented that the officers, who Bill impugns, did anything other than do their job.
If Bill wants to highlight the dangers of police chases, he could have called for new procedures for dealing with chases. Instead, he took the low road and called the police officers killers.
I looked at Bill’s tweets. Yes, apparently some right-wing people have argued with him. Ironically, Bill calls it a “smear campaign” but forgets to use the word “smear” to describe his actions. Instead of taking the high road, again he took the low road, and threw words around like “fascist.”
We all make mistakes. Bill’s above post here is telling in how he handled his mistake. He could have said, “I tweeted too quickly without getting all of the facts. I apologize to the police officers involved. I should have never accused them of killing an innocent person.” He did not say this. It has been four days since his original tweet and he has yet to apologize.
Looking at Bill’s website I cannot figure out if he has ever had a job where he has worked with people with diverse opinions. As such, the way Bill handled this is telling. I want a councilor who has the ability to work with constituents with diverse views and opinions. Flying off the handle, name calling, and making baseless accusations won’t cut it.
@Greg – I think the tweet itself is discussion-worthy. As far as I can tell, the main criterion for publishing something on Wicked Local these days is that it not require a reporter to do any work.
I’ll let the dust clear and see where this all ends up after Bill is given a fair shot to explain himself. However, as a Ward 5 resident who was familiar with the toxic relationship that former Ward 5 alderman Christine Samuelson had with the Newton Police- they pretty much hated her- I have no interest in having another fact deficient, reflexive police agitating politician with an axe to grind representing me. We live in a city of 90,000 people. We need to respect our police, unless they give us a reason not to, and they need to respect us. I agree with Jane Frantz and Jeff Pontiff’s assessments. I think you may have posted on the wrong thread@Shawn Fitzgibbons.
This has nothing to do with Greg Hill,
Jim Cote, WAAF, Trump, the Monica Lewinsky dress, progressive causes or the cost of tea in China. It’s about Bill Humphrey and tweets he made about a police chase that ended tragically.
End of story. Why isn’t Brian Yates running for this Ward 5 seat? Is the pool of candidates for this important seat that thin?
Bill Humphrey or anyone who remotely thinks like him is not someone I want on the newton city council. Maybe he really wanted to be a an Officer in real life and missed his chance? Either way, I could never support or associate myself with a politician like this.
@Greg, that’s pretty weak tea. I will send you some tea bags to help you out.
That’s not how it works…. That’s not how any of this works. You’ve announced that you plan to run for the Ward 5 seat. You have a campaign website. Your Twitter bio says “Once and future candidate” and contains a link to your campaign website. Everything you tweet (and everything you tweeted in the past), whether about politics or zoo animals, is now not just a reflection of you as an individual, but of you as a candidate for public office.
For me, a big problem is that, as far as I can tell, you haven’t corrected the factual errors you asserted in your Tweet. You stated that the crime prompting the chase was “Someone doing 65 in a 55 zone.” But the Boston Globe story that you linked in your Tweet stated: “Rivera was spotted by a Mashpee officer driving erratically and speeding Saturday, leading the officer to begin a pursuit that at times reached 65 miles per hour, according to police audio transmissions recorded by Broadcastify.”
There is nothing wrong with asking questions about the risks associated with high speed police chases. It’s a real issue. But when you make a very serious assertion – that police in Massachusetts have killed an innocent person – before you, or anyone else, has all the facts, that’s not a good look. Not being willing to ignore all the noise on Twitter and just admit that your hot take was way too hot isn’t either.
Tricia – That stance implies incorrectly that no one on the City Council (which isn’t a full-time job) or running for City Council (also not a full-time job, especially over a year out) is not permitted to have their own life with anything outside of that extremely narrow parameter. Moreover, the vast majority of my thousands of Twitter followers do not live in Newton, so it would seem odd to talk on there to them only about Newton for the next year. By contrast, my campaign Facebook page is mostly followed by Newton people, and I limit my posts there much more. Most of this campaign will be conducted face to face, not on social media, so I did not feel a need to limit myself in the manner you’re suggesting I have to.
I await the results of the internal investigation being conducted by the department, but I believe that the inappropriate use of a pursuit (which I believe is generally always inappropriate) is the difference between someone being dead or alive today.
This was a front-page Boston Globe story of interest to many people across the region. I can comment on it on my personal Twitter account. This is an issue I have talked about for years now on my personal Twitter account. All I did was highlight the latest in a long string of incidents pointing to the need for serious reform in Massachusetts. An extreme right-wing faction has seized upon that, while also mentioning my support for racial justice movements and undocumented immigrants as similar offenses in their eyes, to target me for not offering uncritical deference. More and more municipalities across the country are banning the practice because it is not useful and it is extremely dangerous.
You can wave it off as “all the noise on Twitter” (not sure how voicemails of strangers yelling at me falls under that category) but when people are repeatedly telling me they hope I get killed by a speeding car or wish they could bash my face in with a shovel, that seems to have crossed into different territory. They are also replying to anyone I talk to about any subject, including friends of mine on the other side of the country.
Is this kind of abuse something I – or anyone – should simply be expected to put up with as the cost of running for a ward council seat? That’s absolutely absurd.
No Bill. They’re “permitted” but voters are also “permitted”
to decide if that matters to them or not.
@Billl and ALL of the commenters…
Not one single one of you has any idea what really happened in Mashpee. You are all basing your comments on what has been reported in the media, which as we know, is often incorrect.
None of you were in that cruiser, none of you were that Officer that had to make a decision on whether to “pursue” that car or let it go. None of you know how long that “pursuit” lasted. It is simply wrong of you to comment on this case when you do not have the FACTS. There is an investigation under way by the Mashpee police and other agencies as well.
We would all be better served to hold our comments until these investigations are complete. A man refused to stop for police. An accident occurred. A man died. Those are all the facts we know right now.
You do yourself no favors Bill by tweeting any kind of comment on this case. You got your name out there and everyone is talking about you. If that was your goal, you succeeded. This case is about the new father who died and how it happened, not about what YOU think happened. Once it’s out there, you can’t take it back.
Good luck with that campaign…
I have heard and read all I need to
in order to make a decision more than a year out from the election Bill will be a candidate in. Thanks for declaring so early and showing your colors so quickly Bill.
Tricia-
You make excellent points that a mature, savvy political candidate would, by common sense, know him or herself. A smart individual would use your observations to self-reflect and consider more carefully past and future social media posts. Bill’s response is that of someone who is tone deaf. Maybe that’s the type of politician Newton voters want. I suspect not.
Bill-
I’m not sure you get it. Your response to Tricia’s incisive, helpful comments
convey more the attitude of a petulant child
than a humble individual who should be elected to serve an important part of our city. As Tricia indicated, all of
your social media activity and comments will, and should be used to judge your suitability for the office of
a city councilor. I believe Newton voters would be better served by allowing you to focus on growing your social media platforms and dabbling in progressive causes, not as an agent of change but rather as an agitator. Eventually, people will tune you out and focus on more life affirming activities. I’m not voting for Bill Humphrey, nor will I encourage anyone I know or run into from Ward 5 to vote for him either.
What Ted Hess-Mahan said both times.
@TheWholeTruth without making any judgement, I’d like to point out that motor vehicle collisions and deaths are preventable and the result of risk taking. This is no exception. Let’s try not to use the word accident to describe the collision. #crashnotaccident
@Adam….I stand corrected and get the difference between accident and crash. But I stand by the rest of my comments.
To all commenters who are attempting to back up Bill and stand by the assumption that the police were somehow wrong. Bill said “Again, as often happens, Massachusetts police have killed an innocent person in a high speed chase” This is not a statement of whether the police should or should not have rsued, or did or did not follow policy allegedly. This is a statement he made, “police have killed….” The police did not kill that father. The criminal did. Any speculation as to what should have or could have happened is just that, speculation. No one knows if the police has not chased whether that jerk would or would not have killed that father. No one knows. But for Bill to make a direct accusation is plain wrong. It was not a reflection of police pursuit policies or the need for more less of them. It was an accusation against the police.
Mr Humphrey has since doubled down on his stance on social media to the point of blocking people from his Twitter. Mind you all, this is someone who aspires to become a city councilor yet refuses to engage at all with any critics. (I do not expect him to engage with those who call him names or use vulgar language or threats) However it is pretty bad that someone who wants to represent citizens of Newton refuses to engage or acknowledge opposing viewpoints. He has also taken to labeling anyone who he sees as having an opposing view point as a ‘Fascist’. Yet he complains about people calling him names,and attempting to run a smear campaign.
What you do not see Mr. Humphrey, is that your views and attitudes do not reflect the behavior of a politician who wants to represent citizens in such a community as Newton. You feel it is somehow your right, and have shown arrogance that not only will you be elected, but will be elected despite anyone who thinks you should no represent them. You are telling the citizens of Newton that it’s tough crap if you dont like me, I’m getting elected anyway. THIS is also why we are against you, as well as for your misguided accusation of calling police murderers.
TL;DR
White males expressing their rage against anyone who dares malign the keepers of their privileged status quo…snore…
Hey Michael, that’s really cool how you’re able to see the race and gender of commenters here on V14 – is there an app for that?
Sure Tricia, for race it’s https://www.census.gov/data.html
And for gender, you can just use the old noggin! Although I should probably also give a shout out to those hundred or so rascally female Trump supporters up in Nonantum. The app for that is https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/upshot/election-2016-voting-precinct-maps.html (subscription required)
But forgive me, “Tony Gentile,” if you’re another one of those typical black ladies who’s strongly defensive of the police.
I have to disagree maybe he chose his words wrong but a high-speed chase on Route 28 should have been called off 100% no matter what hour of the night day any life is not worth a police chase of any kind his life and innocent life the police officers life is a human life they all have a mother or father possibly brothers and sisters and never should be lost at any cost unless murders child molest or a dangerous other intentionally maliciously and it’s proven guilty by the court of law those who choose their words wrong only words cannot be directed and subjected to this case at all this was a tragedy that sure never happened once again involving the police it’s called a force get the criminals as a force great police forces overcome all obstacles which crime rate and offices have a great crime rate
@Shawn F: Humphrey was wrong to post that comment and he acknowleded it. To try and defend someone who confesses to a “cheap shot” comment doesn’t reflect well on you and your efforts. Secondly, to label me as a right wing extremist is as you know a lie, since we’ve discussed this many times. The city doesn’t need “progressive” candidates for Ward seats, what is needed are mature people with experience, compassion, and concern for everyone.
@Brian Yates is the best candidate for the W5 seat, and no one can argue over his qualifications.
@all: The Humphrey comment was in poor taste and reflected immaturity, the fact that my other colleagues in government didn’t call him out is not my problem, but someone had to. I called him out because it was the right thing to do and I will always stand for common sense.
@James Côté – You and your self-anointed “common sense” don’t get to call anyone out for “immaturity” when you support a president who mocks disabilities, ridicules decorated prisoners of war despite being a chickenhawk himself, and then revels in juvenile misogyny. Please spare us the nonsense.
Michael, if you used your last name like Jim Cote, maybe you would think twice before saying nonsense. Stick to the facts. When you run out of the ability to argue with logic, throwing out “guilt by association” is a bad strategy. V14 would be much better without your scurrilous nonsense.
@michael: You have to be one of the most ill informed, and awful people in the city. Your hate comments are a joke to those that know me, and reflect that you’re knowledge base is limited. My guess is you are great believer in @Shawn’s propaganda mission to discredit hard working people.
The local DCC should spend time being productive instead of hateful, possibly you can all find a way to make things better for people.
Posssibly you can tell us what you have done for your country/community.
Oh yes, be a big person and use your name.
@greg: Your V14 is a joke if you tolerate hateful people that discredit productive members of the community. Take down @michael’s post and restore the IQ level of V14.
Absent this V14 will never hear from me again and I’ll join the long list of City Councilors who ignore this site.
A city councilor’s reaction to a constituent’s two-sentence comment criticizing the councilor’s support for Donald Trump is to call that constituent “one of the most awful people in the city,” say that he’s hateful, question what he’s done for his country and his community, and imply that he has a low IQ.
Duly noted, James.
– Michael
I think those who don’t sign with their full names should be kept on a short leash here.
@Michael: The comments come from your self creation of who I support, which you actually have no knowledge of? That makes all of my comments spot on.
Gov Charlie Baker came to Newton in October of 2017 for a fundraiser for my reelection campaign. Clearly you know where he stands on national politics, and whom he would support up/down the political chain of command.
As you have no facts: Silence is Golden.
@Councilor Cote: Several times in recent months you’ve objected strongly — even threatening to quit Village 14 — when a someone here suggested that you are a Trump supporter or aligned you with the president’s policies.
I don’t for a fact, know if that’s true or not (I recall you supported Rubio during the primaries). But I’ve also noted that while seem to become offended, you make no effort to clarify your position. Meanwhile you gladly report past support from the governor, your military service, your diverse family and other admirable aspects of your biography.
So, respectfully, perhaps you can clarify the matter: Do you support Donald Trump, his polices and his approach to governing?
I respectfully look forward to your direct response. Thanks.
I’d encourage Councilor Cote to not abandon Village 14. In the big picture, both the city and this blog are stronger for having diverse opinions represented. I disagree with Councilor Cote on nearly every issue of consequence. However, there is still value to his opinion and I would not want to see his voice silenced, even if that were self imposed.
I’ll take this opportunity to disagree with the Councilor one more time. He mentioned there’s a “long list of City Councilors who ignore this site.” While it may be true that many Councilors don’t post on Village 14, I’d bet that nearly every single one of them reads Village 14.
James, in order for all of your above comments about me (awfulness, lack of intelligence) to be spot on, please go ahead and unequivocally confirm to me and the rest of your constituents that you do not support your president.
Otherwise, your comments are incredibly out of line.
Publicly denounce Trotsky, or else… Sounds familiar.
@michael and @greg: Apologies start with those that make up lies.
First: I am not too interested in active politics beyond Newton as I don’t attend the various conventions, etc, and I don’t run around the state, or New England campaigning. Hence, this is the main reason why I don’t engage in time consuming letters and petitions to my Congressman who living down the street certainly knows his job function. So when lies are created about who I support, it annoys me, as I am more interested in municipal government, which affects my constituency. Passionate political groupies should should concentrate on what they can change and disengage from name calling.
Being French Canadian/Irish and from the working class, I view Democrats as good people, and Republicans as equally good people providing in both cases they all believe in working together.
As a US Marine, and sworn to defend the Constitution of the US, I will never advocate for the overthrow of our sitting government as that is treason. I believe in the political process that has seen us through many bad administrations in the recent past, and given that both parties fielded poor candidates in 2016, possibly advocates can work to improve the quality of our candidates.
Councilor Cote: Thank you for your service to our country and, more recently, to our city.
You have fought for and exercised your right not to answer my question but you also fought for the rights of those people who will choose to criticize your non-answer.
Not even close. Mr. Côté called me one of the most awful people in the city because I criticized his support of Donald Trump. If I was wrong, it’s up to him to prove it. End of story at that point.
@James – we’ve gotten our answer.
Tell me again about how to be a “big person.”
I’m sure it’s of no consequence to you, but: you weren’t on my radar before this, and you’ve fallen back off my screen. Hard to believe I wasted ten minutes of my day responding to someone of your demeanor.
This is getting out of hand. Jim doesn’t have to make a statement of support/lack of support of any elected official, not does anyone else on this site. Should he have lost his marbles over the comments of an anonymous poster? Nah. Write as vituperative a post as you’d like, get down and dirty, mean and nasty – then leave it for a few hours before pressing Submit. My bet is that most of the ad hominem attacks and lies (yes, believe it or not, people do lie here ;) ) would be deleted or at the very least toned down.
Michael – How are we to know that you’re a constituent? Or a current resident of Newton? Former, maybe, but current?
Michael demanding a public confession is not shocking to me, but Greg joining him is alarming.
I love when people publicly announce that they’re flouncing a forum but then they keep coming back. Most of Councilor Cote’s comments here on V14 tend to reflect poorly on him and this thread is no exception.
I’ve been quietly watching Councilor Cote make a fool of himself on this blog thread and I had vowed to remain quiet but the fact that this man is actually an elected official in Newton is appalling. I would encourage any Ward 3 resident interested in the Council to come forward and challenge this guy. He’s unbelievably out of touch with Newton — he wouldn’t even publicly oppose Trump’s family separation policy — and he’s eminently beatable. Please, run somebody, run!
@Gerry Chervinsky: Councilor Cote was one of two winners in a three-way race, twice if I’m not mistaken. Unopposed “races” happen too often in Newton, but that’s not the case here.
The majority of you have somehow turned,
*Ward 5 City Council candidate criticizes cops in…. Mashpee*
into a debate, that has absolutely nothing to do with Bill Humphrey, and his ignorant, insensitive and hateful tweet. Maybe this debate should end here, and continue somewhere else. Bill Humphrey is attempting to enter our cities government. If this happens, Bill will have a bigger voice in our cities future. I am not okay with that, and I’m hopeful that my ward 5 neighbors agree with me. To the families and friends of Police Officers, or if you yourself are a Police Officer, and to any citizenswho respects law enforcement, please spread the word about, the Newton City Council Candidate who is putting 100% fault on an Officer doing his job. Mr. Quinn did not deserve to die that day , he had so much more to give to this world; and his life was taken away, not by and Officer, but by this man;
Mickey Rivera was indicted in June, 2015 on the following charges:
1. Armed Assault with Intent to Rob
2. Attempted Armed/Masked Robbery
3. Conspiracy Armed/Masked Robbery
4. Witness Intimidation – misleading police
–On July 2, 2015, Rivera was arraigned in Fall River Superior Court. Judge Raymond P. Veary set bail at $35,000 Cash / $350,000 Surety
–On January 12, 2016, additional conditions were added for the defendant to stay away from his co-defendants and witnesses in the case.
–On December 5, 2016, the defendant filed a Motion for Reduction of Bail Due to Changed Circumstances. The motion, which the Commonwealth opposed, was denied on December 22, 2016 by Judge Veary.
–On September 19, 2017, less than a month after the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision in the Hampden County case of Commonwealth v Brangan, the defendant filed a Motion to Reduce Bail to Amount that the Defendant Can Afford. The motion was allowed, over the Commonwealth’s objection, by Judge Thomas McGuire. Judge McGuire reduced the defendant’s bail from $35,000 to $1,000.
You should blame Mr. Rivera, and maybe even a few ,of the people that have had involvement with him in the court system.
Instead of looking at this as a Republican or Democrat; look at this like a human. Mr. Rivera was neglegent and if he didn’t run from the police, today would be a much happier day for the Quinn Family.
Thank you to the men and women who put their lives on the line. I have the utmost respect for you.
For most Newton residents, the far more important takeaway from the latest posts in this discussion would be the unacceptable behavior of someone who is actually IN city government (not “attempting to enter”) – James Côté.
And also the fact that Mr. Côté, after being asked several times straight-up whether he supports Trump, has responded with frivolous BS about not being willing to commit “treason,” etc.
This is important, because I’d be willing to bet that well over half of Newton’s population would automatically rule out voting for a Trump supporter in any level of government (as anyone with any modicum of decency should).
As I’ve stated in other threads, more than one thing can be true at a time. Legally, for instance, fault in an accident can be apportioned out in various ways/percentages. Life is rarely that simple to just have one person at fault. It is not that simple here.
I have the utmost in respect for the police. It is a tough job. It is high risk. And I have friends in police forces in various locations (not Newton, but high speed chases are a topic in every police force, and a sensitive topic at that). And I have close friends and family who have worked with the police as prosecuters, and know their job well and how difficult it is, and how many split second decisions then get reviewed by armchair quarterbacks like…me.
With that said, any high speed chase that ends in an innocent’s fatality HAS to be examined by the police force, the Commonwealth, and the legal system. It is obvious that most of the blame HAS to go to the guy behind the wheel of the car fleeing from the police. In this case, the legal system may have failed the community by making improper judgments on whether the person should have been behind the wheel at all. After all, this was not his first brush with the law, as Auburndale02466 states above. And in this case, we also have to examine the role of the police force chasing him.
Hindsight is always 20/20. The legal system can say it followed its rules, the police force can say it followed its rules, and we can all blame the criminal fleeing the police. But there is a victim who died tragically young here, an innocent. And while I’m happy to assign moral blame to the criminal behind the wheel, I also don’t just ignore the role the courts and the police played. Even if they follow their current rules, all of us can question whether those decisions make sense, whether they should be changed, whether (IN HINDSIGHT) things should be done better.
Not to blame or to assign moral guilt. But to figure out if the courts and the police can do it better NEXT time. And for the record, police forces around the country do this all the time. And the good ones welcome it. Because what cop wants a chase to end like this?
I don’t think that is what Bill was saying in his post. If felt like an excited utterance to me, one of those he probably wants to have back, and perhaps based on personal experiences with a similar situation. I think he was right to apologize. It was broad and unhelpful and without the facts.
But I think I can honor and respect the police, honor and respect our court system, and still logically question the outcome of a police chase where an innocent got killed, and to push to have the investigation and improvements made to the training and rules for such chases for the police in question. Because in hindsight, no way that chase for this criminal was worth the cost, right? I can blame the criminal and still acknowledge that.
Finally, I think it is tempting for folks who disagree with Bill politically to take advantage of this particular situation and paint with a broad brush here. One tweet does not make Bill an enemy of the police or a non-supporter of law enforcement. I’d encourage Bill to speak directly to Newton police as he runs his campaign, and explain his point of view in a direct dialogue. Then folks can judge for themselves, not based on a tweet, but based on real interaction.
And I’d encourage him to get off twitter. Twitter sucks the souls of its users in ways they don’t always realize. Instant communication isn’t thoughtful communication for many of us, and the responses back don’t advance the conversation. Just my 2 cents.
Since this thread has already gone off the rails… Councilor Cote, your comments border on bullying. Anonymous comments are permitted on V14, for good reason, I believe. I’m deeply disappointed by your tone, and I think your name calling is at least as bad as those you are accusing of attacking you.
I would like to see everyone in our community stand up to fascism and Trumpism, regardless of party, especially elected officials, at all levels. Charlie Baker celebrated the inauguration of Trump (from a distance) and he and his party continue to tolerate the administration for political gain, raising mild objections only when convenient. That’s not leadership, it’s enabling fascism, and it’s not something I would want to associate myself with.
https://twitter.com/masslivenews/status/821842114363424768
As for the original topic of this thread, as usual, @fignewtonville has nailed it.
As usual, the right wing nuts in this forum get proved wrong. Today’s headline:
“Mashpee police chief says chase that ended with fatal crash should have been ‘terminated’”
Michael – you did notice that the headline was not “Mashpee police chief says police have killed an innocent man”, right? The main issue with Humphrey’s tweet was his rush to judgement and incendiary language – which is what he apologized for.
Oh, and calling people you disagree with “right wing nut jobs”? Thanks for proving yet again why no one should take you seriously on this forum.
I still don’t think Bill was right, but I think the police chief did exactly what he should have done. Read my prior post. The police made a mistake here. It isn’t being anti-police to point that out. I’m heartened by the examination of the facts here by the police chief. Hopefully this will lead to fewer accidents in the future. It is important to learn from any situation like this.
Mamma mia!