Staff Photo/Genevieve DiNatale: A Leominster police cruiser sitting outside the station.
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LEOMINSTER – On Thursday, November 10, at 1:44 p.m., Chief Aaron Kennedy and Acting Captain John Fraher Jr. of the Leominster Police Department were downtown by 2-4 Main Street waiting on an appointment when Captain Fraher saw Timothy Smart walking up Mechanic Street and pointed him out to the chief.
Smart, a 50-year-old, divorced homeless man who once worked at Steve’s Lawn Care in Templeton, was known to Captain Fraher.
“I have had numerous dealings with Mr. Smart my entire career,” wrote Captain Fraher in his Narrative for the incident. “Recently, Mr. Smart has been at several festivals, highly intoxicated. I have had to direct officers to keep an eye on him, as many residents approached me out of concern. The last time this happened was at the Halloween parade, when Mr. Smart was causing complaints from parents due to his demanding way of asking children to hold still so he could take pictures with his cell phone.”
After pointing him out to the chief, Captain Fraher said he saw Smart head toward Monument Square.
More: Two homeless men arrested for trespassing onto railroad tracks in Leominster
As he approached, traffic coming from the area of the Woodblock Building had stopped at a green light because a car was waiting to take a left turn at the intersection.
According to Captain Fraher, Smart ignored the “Do Not Walk” signal at the intersection and walked right in front of a white car near the crosswalk that Smart was walking “just outside of.”
“I watched as the white car made what I perceived to be a sudden stop,” wrote Captain Fraher in his Narrative. “Standing in a position behind the white car, I could see that it was traveling at a reasonable speed, which I would estimate at 25 mph. Traffic was heavy at this time. As the white car’s break lights came on, I could see the front of the vehicle dip down. This is indicative of rapid breaking. Mr. Smart continued to walk in front of the car, without skipping a beat, giving the operator a menacing stare. The vehicle stopped about four feet short of striking him.”
Captain Fraher said he then approached Smart and explained to him what he just did. Smart allegedly apologized, saying he didn’t know that was against that law and asked Captain Fraher to “give him a break.”
“I denied his request, reminded him that he has had an overwhelming number of ‘breaks’ from our department and advised him he is under arrest for Disorderly Conduct,” wrote Captain Fraher in his Narrative.
Captain Fraher added that Smart has been found guilty for Disorderly Conduct at least once before.
Smart was arraigned the same day he was arrested in Leominster District Court.
With a court appointed attorney, Smart plead guilty to a charge of Disorderly Conduct, Subsequent Offense.
Judge Andrew Abdella found him guilty and the case was filed by 4 p.m. that day.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story was from earlier in the month, that’s because I had to file a FOIA request to get the court documents for the incident. FOIAs are time consuming.
