DA: Samaritans smack down South End purse snatchers

By adamg on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 12:25pm

Bouchard (l) and Rumsey.A pair of alleged purse snatchers didn't get far after battling a woman for her purse - two Good Samaritans grabbed them and held them for police, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office says.

Derek Bouchard, 32, of Milton, and Sean Rumsey, 34, of South Boston, both had bail set at $1,500 at their arraignments in Boston Municipal Court yesterday, the DA's office says. Bouchard has breaking and entering convictions out of Fall River, Lynn, Roxbury and Woburn, Miller said, while Rumsey has Boston convictions for shoplifting and receiving stolen goods.

According to the DA's office, the victim and her boyfriend had just parked their car at West Newton and Tremont streets around 2 p.m. on Sunday and that she was unloading groceries while he made a quick trip to a corner store when:

Bouchard allegedly ran up and grabbed the woman's purse. After a brief struggle, Bouchard allegedly pushed her to the ground, took her purse, and ran toward Shawmut Street, where he was intercepted by the unknown Samaritan. The victim's boyfriend ran back to the scene and apprehended Rumsey, who was allegedly acting as a lookout.

The DA's office reports that when police arrived, the South End resident was holding Rumsey face down on the sidewalk, while another man, who left after police arrived, was detaining Bouchard. A third resident, meanwhile, was the one who called 911.

In a statement, DA Dan Conley said he generally doesn't want people to take the law into their own hands, but that these South Enders are among "the quiet heroes who make this city great."

Innocent, etc.

Neighborhoods:

South End

Topics:

Crime

Ad:

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

Comments

I wonder Sean Rumsey is a

By anon on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 12:49pm.

I wonder Sean Rumsey is a Southie "native" or a yuppy.

Connolly, shut your mouth unless you're THANKING PEOPLE

By anon on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 3:00pm.

"DA Dan Conley said he generally doesn't want people to take the law into their own hands"

Hey Dan: here's a tip for you, and all the police spokespeople of the great commonwealth:

If people tackle a mugger AND his accomplice, giving the cops an easy arrest and you a slam-shut case, say their action helped, and say a polite THANK YOU. If you can't be bothered, then just SHUT YOUR MOUTH.

Our city would be a thousand times safer if you (and cops) weren't constantly conditioning people to be sheeple every time a story comes up about normal people taking down a scumbag.

Instead, you teach us all to just fork over our belongings without the slightest challenge (thus enabling the crime) and to call the cops...who show up and do the it-won't-make-a-difference-why-bother-filing-a-report dance (because paperwork is a total drag, and it makes the district crime stats look good.)

Check out that video of the bus assault recently. A couple of people bolt. The rest sit there and watch someone repeatedly stab another human being. They just sat there. Doing nothing.

Look at those bank robberies where, when the tellers even just pretend to have trouble reading the note, the guy freaks and bolts.

Here's an idea: update all the legislation that provides for massively increased criminal penalties to apply to good samaritans. If I see you snatch a purse, take you out and you assault me - I don't want to get lectured about how I put myself in danger. I want the law on my side, firmly and completely - and I want his ass in jail. I want you to say THANK YOU

What?

By anon on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 4:43pm.

People, this is the famed South End RESTAURANT ROW!

Only steps away from where a new Dunkin' Donuts is trying to move in, but the fancy Yuppies who live nearby want to keep this area just like the Wellesleys or Winchesters from whence they came. Where they aren't used to crime or having to be alert at all times.

Everyone thinks that the South End is the most magnificent zenith of our modern day culture, but guess what: its a sh*thole ridden with crime.

Applebees, Olive Garden, Ruby Tuesday

By SwirlyGrrl on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 5:29pm.

... await your repeated visits.

First off...

By Brian Riccio on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 6:16pm.

No one hates what the South End has become more than me, but you're a little askew on the demographics there, anon (not verified). In my experience, the South End is mostly professionals from other cities who move here for work and students from the colleges in the area who get jobs here after they graduate.

I have never met anyone who sold their homes in either of the 2 towns you cite to move to the South End, I don't care how many fancy restaurants they put in. Sure, why would you want to give up that fancy 4 car driveway to try find an open spot on West Newton or St. Botolph streets?

Also, it doesn't excuse the fact that many of our local scumbags like to think of the South End as easy pickings, that for some reason they feel yuppies give it up easier. No one deserves to have their shit taken in broad daylight by two professional lowlifes.

FYI: St. Botolph is in Back

By anons on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 7:49pm.

FYI: St. Botolph is in Back Bay, not South End.

Not where I come from...

By Brian Riccio on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 11:13pm.

As long as I've lived in this town, once you cross Huntington Ave, you're in the South End.

St. Botolph is sort of its own little neighborhood

By Ron Newman on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 11:28pm.

but it has Back Bay residential parking signs. Historically, a railroad right-of-way created a very imposing and intrusive barrier between St. Botolph and the South End. That's much less true now that the railroad has been buried and a park put on top of it.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=605546887

Let me guess, oxycontin

By anon on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 11:42pm.

Let me guess, oxycontin addiction.