Man who dragged Massachusetts State Police officer with car arrested

HOLYOKE, Mass. (WLNE) — The Massachusetts State Police said that a man was arrested Friday after dragging a state trooper who had stopped him with his car earlier in the afternoon.

Michael Williams, Jr. of Greenville was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, failure to stop for police, and resisting arrest, among several other charges.

State police said that Williams was alleged to have been stopped by an officer at the Holyoke rest area when he drove off and dragged the officer a short distance.

Williams was also said to have struck a police cruiser and other vehicles.

The officer who was dragged then got into his cruiser and pursued Williams up Route 91 North, who went off the road, crashed, and ran into the woods towards Route 5.

The state police said that a number of police patrols, K-9 units, a drone, and a police boat searched for Williams in the woods and well as in the Connecticut River.

Williams was eventually found around 5:30 by an officer and his K-9.

The state police said that Williams is being held without bail for a violation of conditions of his probation from a previous conviction.

He is expected to be arraigned on Monday.

The trooper who was dragged was transported by ambulance to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton for a lower body injury and was released.