SWAMPSCOTT, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — On Wednesday at 6 p.m., the Swampscott Select Board met to discuss the arrest of a Black Lives Matter protestor.
Swampscott police arrested a man on Dec. 12, after allegedly retaliating with a closed first toward a 80-year-old woman who reportedly threw water at the man.
The man was arrested at the scene and charged with assault and battery against an elderly or disabled person.
However, as video evidence later revealed, he did not strike the woman with a closed fist and could have used his open hand to defend himself from the water bottle.
The woman was identified as a supporter of former president Donald Trump.
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While the immediate information of the incident was properly reported by Swampscott police, now the post-arrest is under investigation.
Municipal Resources, Inc., from Plymouth N.H., stated in the report that the officers had probable cause for the arrest, but did not follow "best practices" in the post-arrest investigation.
The report said it was a justifiable arrest because "the need to take an immediate enforcement action was due, in part, to the aggressive and volatile behaviors of people in the crowd; to delay may have escalated the crowd's behaviors."
The woman was not charged because the officers did not witness the water-throwing.
"This report ensures that the town of Swampscott has objectively and effectively conducted a top-to-bottom review of how the Swampscott Police Department handled this incident," Swampscott Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald said in the report. "It is imperative that the findings contained in this report now result in changes to ensure that the Swampscott Police Department meets the highest ethical and professional standards of Public Safety and Public Service."
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