Hey, there! Log in / Register

Trains being stopped at JFK/UMass as police look for a carjacker who crashed nearby

A South End carjacking that ended with a crash near the JFK/UMass T stop had police searching Red Line trains for the suspect this morning.

After being spotted by a detail cop on Waltham Street carjacking a green Lexus SUV around 8 a.m., the suspect drove away, leading responding police units on a chase that went down the Expressway and ended with a crash near Buttonwood Court in Dorchester. The man then ran away and police officers and a canine unit are currently on the hunt for him.

8:58 a.m. update: They are restarting the trains.

Neighborhoods: 
Topics: 
Free tagging: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

Humm... it is worth it to shut the whole train system down to catch one guy who stole a car? Did he kill or injure anyone?? It's not clear.

1 SUV = $30K
15-30 min delays x 1000s of people = $!!!

up
Voting closed 0

Taking violent criminal out of circulation = priceless.

(Unless every stolen car is now reported as a carjack.)

up
Voting closed 0

Really? There is no price you wouldn't pay to catch a guy that got in a bar fight? You'd shut down, say, the entire MBTA on a Saturday night? Just because someone got punched in the face?

up
Voting closed 0

The carjacking was a vague description. Doesn't sound now like he was armed at all and didn't committ bodily harm, so no. If he was packing a Mac 10, then yes. You want to get on at Fields Corner and stand next to him then?

up
Voting closed 0

Tara, I'm going to steal your car tonight.

Please leave me alone when I board the T at Harvard (oh no! buses AND trains!!).

Thanks. I'll be back for your replacement vehicle on the 25th, too.

up
Voting closed 0

Which means someone either got hurt or was put in fear of getting hurt as their vehicle was stolen from them.

up
Voting closed 0

To catch bank robbers? Sure. For a car thief? No way.

up
Voting closed 0

...there would be a lot less crime. And it wouldn't have to start with "every" crime. It could just be a small percentage of crimes that get THOROUGHLY investigated.

Most of the reason there's so much crime in Boston is because people discover rapidly that they can get away with petty theft, robbing/mugging people, breaking into cars, etc...either through personal experience or hearing their friends brag about it, or just simply seeing what goes on in their neighborhood and the cops not catching anyone.

I don't know if you've ever had the experience of reporting a crime where there was property theft or damage and had the cops laugh when you asked if "there was something they could do". Usually there is something they could do - but they'd rather drive around in their cruiser while talking to their partner or on their cell phone, or stand around a hole in the ground talking to construction workers about the latest in Hole Digging Technology. Instead, they tell you "not to bother" filing a report, because crime stats make them look bad (or make their shift supervisor make them do extra patrols etc) and reports = paperwork.

The result is that BPD will only do something when there's a witness or it makes the news. And the end result of THAT? Thugs know all they have to do is intimidate witnesses.

Believe it or not, there are countries where the police investigate stuff with everything at their disposal, because the assumption is that the same guy who stole your bike is probably the kind of guy who mugs people or sticks up convenience stores....or will, if he learns that he can break the law and not get caught. It's also pretty good practice to learn how to investigate on minor stuff for when the big shit goes down!

up
Voting closed 0

Brett your average cop does not care about how crimes are reported. There are policies as to what gets investigated and what doesn't. Police don't investigate car breaks because they don't have enough manpower to investigate the housebreaks. The cops you see driving around don't follow up anything. They are assigned to patrol and respond to calls. Ideally, you want x amount of cops per y amount of population. Because of finances, Boston and most cities are way below this ratio (with cities like Brookline, Cambridge and Newton being far above this ratio)

Let's take property crimes for example. There are basically several levels of property crimes, and each level gets followed up with a certain amount of manpower/followup/money/time/etc.

Police wont dust for fingerprints for car break-ins in Boston because there are too many commercial and residential house breaks to do that. The Wellesley Police will dust for fingerprints in Wellesley because they don't have the housbreaks to investigate.

You are right about your small crimes theory. That isn't just a police issue though. Thats a criminal justice system issue.

up
Voting closed 0

This was a carjacking. Is alleged officer Pete Nice saying carjackings don't rise to the level of investigation?

up
Voting closed 0

I'm saying the police don't have the resources to investigate all the crimes Brett wants them too. Carjackings get investigated and take top priority.

up
Voting closed 0

Channel 5 reports the perp managed to convince the driver there was something wrong with the car bumper and when he got out, the suspect jumped in and sped off.

up
Voting closed 0

The charge at arraignment was carjacking, but it appears that the suspect pushed the victim before entering the SUV and then dragged him a short distance afterwards. That should satisfy the "assaults ... for the purpose of stealing a motor vehicle" element, but it'll be reviewed like all felony complaints.

up
Voting closed 0

Where he was taken after getting hit by a car himself, BPD reports, adding he was shoeless, having left his flipflops where he allegedly crashed the stolen car.

Matt Burke, 32, was charged with carjacking.

Innocent, etc.

up
Voting closed 0

he wasnt armed kill anyone or anything wanna kno how i kno?... cuz i kno him
matt is a good kid who once in awhile fucks up like the rest of us jus this time he went a lil 2 far

up
Voting closed 0

He was just turing his life around.....

up
Voting closed 0

When I fuck up, I forget to buy bread at the supermarket. I don't steal a car. I've never had a fuck up like that before.

up
Voting closed 0

for a "lil 2 far" (sic). What would have been "just far enough"? And what pushed it over the edge-- dragging the old guy? Crashing the Lexus? Both? Neither?

up
Voting closed 0

BurkeAt his arraignment in Boston Municipal Court today, Judge Edward Redd set bail at $48,000 and ordered him sent to Bridgewater for 20 days for observation, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office, which provides this account:

Prosecutors said Burke approached the victim, a 62-year-old South End man, who was in his Lexus RX300 sport-utility vehicle on Shawmut Avenue shortly before 8:30 yesterday morning. Apparently using a ruse, Burke allegedly got the victim out of the vehicle, pushed him, and jumped inside. The victim’s hand was stuck in the door for a short time as Burke allegedly drove away.

A Boston Police officer working a detail nearby heard the victim scream and saw him being dragged 20 to 30 feet as the car accelerated. The officer followed the vehicle through the South End on his department motorcycle with other Boston Police officers also responding to give chase.

Burke allegedly ignored their lights and sirens, drove at a high rate of speed, swerved onto the sidewalk at times, and refused to stop for red lights. He allegedly turned onto Interstate 93, travelling south and driving so fast at times that the officers had to hang back so as not to endanger civilian lives and safety.

After one group of officers briefly stopped a different Lexus RX300, another group observed the stolen SUV crashed and abandoned near a concrete barrier near the Columbia Road exit. Outside the vehicle was a pair of white sandals. Civilian witnesses provided the officers with the operator’s path of flight, but he was not to be found.

up
Voting closed 0