Published in the January 30, 2017 edition.
WAKEFIELD — A 22-year-old Wakefield man was arrested last night on multiple charges after he allegedly pulled up behind a woman’s car and claimed he was a Wakefield police officer.
The woman told police that she was parked on Eaton Street at about 9:30 p.m. when a white Nissan Juke pulled up behind her. She told police that a man got out of the car and approached her driver’s side window and said he was a Wakefield police officer. He was dressed in civilian clothes and showed no badge, so the woman asked him for some credentials. When he couldn’t produce any she called Wakefield Police.
When police arrived, the man in the Nissan was starting to pull away. Police stopped the car on Eaton Street. While speaking to him, police noticed an odor of alcohol and slurred speech. After conducting a series of field sobriety tests, they arrested James Q. MacDonald of 314 Water St., Apt. 1, for operating a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor. Police said that during booking at the police station MacDonald first became verbally combative and then physically resisted police, struggling with officers who tried to get him to calm down.
Police said that the physical struggle continued for some time and eventually police had to use pepper spray. When police later removed the handcuffs for some of the booking procedure, they said that MacDonald once again became combative and police again had to secure him due to his violent behavior.
In addition to the OUI charge, MacDonald was charged with failure to stop for police, impersonating a police officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
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A 27-year-old Wakefield man was arrested after resisting officers who were trying to place him in protective custody.
At about 5:30 p.m. yesterday, police received a call reporting an apparently drunk man passed out in the foyer of an apartment building on Water Street. When police arrived, Action Ambulance was also on scene. The man, who was known to police officers, was found passed out face down under a staircase in the lobby of the building. Police said that when James M. Marchand (of 585 Lowell St., Apt. 6) eventually stood up, he was unsteady on his feet and needed to hold on to the wall for support.
Police said that they offered to take him to the hospital or somewhere where he could get treatment but he refused. At one point, residents of the building were trying to enter the lobby, so police escorted Marchand outside. Due to his high level of intoxication and his refusal to accept assistance, police attempted to take him into protective custody. At that point, police said that Marchand resisted and assumed a combative stance.
Eventually officers were able grab Marchand’s hands and secure him in handcuffs. He continued to resist and yell at officers. He was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
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Police are investigating a possible scam after a Main Street jewelry store owner said that a tall African American man with a slender build and a beard entered his store at about 2 p.m. on Friday and told the jeweler that he was in town to liquidate his uncle’s estate. Police said that the man had a gold chain that the jeweler paid him $700 for. The jeweler told police that he had tested part of the necklace prior to paying the man and it tested OK. But the jeweler became suspicious when he tested another part of the necklace after the man left.
When the man later returned to the store, the jeweler said that he asked the man for his money back, but the man left the store and has not returned.
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Police said that a tow truck driver was taken to the Melrose-Wakefield Hospital with minor injuries after he was struck by a 2006 Honda Civic that he was trying to jump start on Water Street just after 4 p.m. on Friday. Police said that the the car’s operator apparently popped the clutch and the vehicle hit the tow truck driver in the leg.
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Police responded to the Route 129 Rotary at about 2:30 a.m. on Saturday where Reading Police and State Police were off with a man who was covered in mud and stated that his car had crashed into a body of water and that there had been another person with him in the car. It was unknown if the body of water was Lake Quannapowitt, as the man was quite disoriented after the crash. Wakefield Police requested that the Wakefield Fire Department deploy a boat into the Lake, but firefighters located nothing there.
Eventually, the car was found in the Saugus River in a wooded area between Route 128 and Bay State Road. State police K9 units also responded but no trace of another individual was found. Wakefield firefighters stood by until the car was removed from the crash site.
Reading Police are handling the investigation.
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Police and the Fire Department responded to a two-car accident at Salem and Pleasant streets on Sunday at about 10:15 a.m. Police said that a 2011 GMC Acadia was traveling on Salem Street when a 2004 Lincoln Navigator came out of Pleasant Street and hit the GMC. The driver of the Lincoln was cited for a “Stop” sign violation.
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At about 3:45 on Sunday, a caller reported two white females in their 20’s sitting in a car on Chestnut Street passing bags of marijuana back and forth. Police were unable to locate the vehicle.
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The Fire Department responded to 32 calls over the weekend, of which 21 were for medical aid.
At 1:15 p.m. on Friday, Wakefield firefighters were called to Stoneham for mutual aid in fighting a fire on Colonial Court in that town. The Wakefield unit was on scene for under an hour.
On Saturday at about 8:30 a.m. the Fire Department went to a brush fire in the woods off Oakland Road. Firefighters used a floating pump and a forestry hose to put out the approximately half-acre fire.
The remaining non-medical calls included oil burner issues, water problems, a house lockout and a carbon monoxide problem.
