Mass. State Police arrest 2 motorists for evading, assaulting officers

TEWKSBURY, Mass. (WLNE) — Massachusetts State Police said two men were arrested for their involvement in separate cases of assaulting police officers.

According to officials, a state trooper stopped Aybar Romero on Friday, July 7, for motor vehicle violations but later discovered he had four outstanding warrants for his arrest.

After exiting his vehicle, the trooper said Romero became violent while he was being placed in cuffs. Romero was able to break free and escape in his vehicle.

The trooper was taken to Lowell General Hospital and treated for their injuries.

Romero was later found at an apartment in the town of Lawrence, Massachusetts, where he was arrested. He is currently being held pending arraignment on the following charges, not including his four outstanding warrants:

• Assault and battery on a police officer
• Assault with a dangerous weapon
• Resisting arrest
• Malicious destruction of property over $1,200
• Refusing to identify himself to police
• Unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle
• Attaching plates
• Operating with a revoked registration
• Operating an uninsured vehicle

Officials said that attack came shortly after another state trooper was assaulted on the Interstate-95 Exit 57 off ramp in Wakefield, where a motorcyclist allegedly tried to run over the trooper while being stopped.

Authorities said 19-year-old Colin Webb, of Reading, Mass., was stopped by a trooper at the exit after being observed driving erratically on July 7.

The trooper said Webb refused to turn off his engine after being stopped, then drove into the trooper as he was standing in front of his bike.

The trooper was able to disengage the motorcycle as it fled the scene, narrowly avoiding being struck by an oncoming truck, police said.

Webb was arrested later that day and is facing the following charges:

• Assault and battery on a police officer
• Assault with a dangerous weapon
• Refusing to identify himself to police
• Negligent operation of a motor vehicle
• Number plate violation
• Speeding
• Failure to adhere to traffic signs
• Breakdown lane violation
• Missing number plate
• Failure to stop for police

“These incidents were brazen, and deliberately violent assaults perpetrated by motivated offenders on public servants who were engaged in their duties to protect our roads, our communities, our citizens, and our visitors,” said Colonel John Mawn Jr., Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police.

“We work very hard to ensure that violence directed against any victim – police officer or civilian – is answered with a swift and thorough response, and that was exactly what was done in these two investigations,” he continued.