One-woman anti-crime squad moving to Boston
The Los Angeles Times reports a woman who has spent 40 years making citizen's arrests in Venice, CA is moving back to Boston. She calls herself Boston Dawna:
By her own estimate, she has initiated thousands of private citizen's arrests of "thieves, burglars and robbers," pouncing on them from bushes and restraining them with handcuffs she buys in bulk from the Pleasure Chest sex shop. Police scanner in hand, she has blown the whistle on bootleg apartment units and rousted backpack-toting vagrants. ... A chain-smoker with a voice like a rasp, she ceased using her full name and began spelling her given name, "Donna," the way she pronounces it with her full-on Boston accent. By now, just about everybody in Venice who knows her - and that's just about everybody - calls her Boston Dawna.
Alas, the article doesn't say just where in the Boston arear, um, area, she's moving.
Hat tip: Megan Johnson.
Comments
Great another crazy.
Great another crazy.
She might run into trouble here in the Commonwealth
You can only conduct a citizen's arrest for felony charges- and, if they are found innocent? Yeah, they can sue the arresting citizen for false imprisonment.
This may be a bad move on her part
I don't know about California law, but citizens' arrests in Massachusetts are tricky. There is a significant risk of personal liability on the part of the citizen. There is a requirement that the crime of arrest be a felony that was "in fact committed" by the arrestee. In practice, this means the arrestee must be convicted of the felony, not merely charged with it. If the arrestee is not convicted, the citizen may face civil liability for false arrest, or battery.
In other words, this woman will likely get herself in a lot of trouble if she continues her antics here.
Boston Donna
The woman hasn't even moved here yet and already people have her all figured out. The fact that for years she chose to actually do something in response to crime,other than worry about what might happen should be applauded. I've read similar posts before. One of the more recent was the use of Twitter on the T to fight crime. One guy went on about his uncertainty of calling the police. Stop whining and stand up. If we can't help each other, then this will be nothing more than a waste of time.
Dear Donna - start with
Dear Donna - start with Beacon Hill, and work your way through the state agencies. There's no shortage of work do be done here.
Thousands of arrests?
She's claiming thousands of arrests? Given her apparent age, that's multiple arrests per week for all of her adult life. Even if I were to actively go looking for trouble, I don't think I could plan on stumbling over thousands of felonies over the course of my life. Something doesn't quite seem right here.
Sounds like a character.
Sounds like a character. Have to wait and see.
What this woman has done is
What this woman has done is make hundreds of complaints against police officers. If she does not get her way she calls Internal Affairs and tries to destroy the career of those who see though her. Watch out Boston PD
I think . . .
. . . BPD already has seen through this lady and don't give her the time of day.
That is excellent. People
That is excellent. People here drank her kool aide and bought her line of nonsense. It would have been OK if she was just a concerned citizen, but she was really a groupie and used that to impact, in a bad way, some very fine officers.