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LEOMINSTER – At about 9:34 p.m. on Friday, July 21, Officer James McKenna of the Leominster Police Department was dispatched to Fourth Street following a report from a woman that her live-in son, Wayne Lemieux, had become verbally abusive after taking too much of his medication.
(The account and quotations in this story were taken from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer McKenna)
“I arrived along with multiple members of the Leominster Fire Department. I was met by Wayne Lemieux’s mother [name redacted],” Officer McKenna said.
Wayne, 50, is on disability and resides with his mother at 149 Fourth Street, Apt. 1.
“I tried to ascertain what happened this evening,” Officer McKenna continued. “[She] asked for the doors to the house to be closed because she did not want her cat to get out. She then began to lead me around the kitchen into an adjacent room and said ‘he’s not going to be very agreeable to it.’”
Wayne’s mother led Officer McKenna to the threshold of the living room door where he could see Wayne “throwing soft items around the room.”
Wayne briskly walked right up to the officer in the threshold of the door. When Officer McKenna told him to take a seat, Wayne replied “f$ck you.”
“I extended my arm out in Wayne’s direction without touching Wayne in an attempt to keep our distance,” Officer McKenna said. “Wayne then swatted my arm out of his way and kept his momentum pushing toward me. I then used contact controls to create distance between Wayne and I by placing my hand on the center of Wayne’s chest. Wayne then grabbed hold of my left hand that I used to keep our distance with both of his arms. I could feel him using a considerable amount of strength in an attempt to move my arm out of the way. I then began to use my right hand to begin to gain immediate and conclusive control of Wayne. Wayne then grasped my right arm tightly with one hand while still trying to grab my left. I was able to break Wayne’s grasp and manipulated his arms to turn away from me. I then executed an armbar maneuver over a living room chair and placed him in handcuffs.”
Officer McKenna said he experienced “minor pain in his shoulders” after the incident.
“I then escorted Wayne to the kitchen where his prescriptions were located,” Officer McKenna said. “I inventoried his prescriptions with a paramedic and could not find an anomaly that would suggest that Wayne had taken more than prescribed. While the medical staff was trying to examine Wayne, he was yelling at what sounded to be at the top of his lungs and calling them a number of obscenities. I asked Wayne if he took prescriptions in an attempt to harm himself or felt like harming himself currently, to which he answered in the negative. I asked the paramedics if there was a medical necessity for Wayne to be transported to the hospital and received a negative response.”
Then, Wayne allegedly told the officer that he drank one beer that evening.
“I could detect an odor of alcoholic beverage coming from his breath,” Officer McKenna said. “I performed a Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Test on him and received no clues.”
According to findlaw.com, the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test is a field sobriety test where an officer has an individual follow an object (such as a pen tip or pen light) with his/her eyes. The HGN test checks for the involuntary jerking of one’s eyes as they gaze side to side. This involuntary jerkiness is said to increase while under the influence of alcohol.
Officer McKenna then asked Wayne’s mother if she could elaborate on the extent of Wayne’s alcohol consumption that evening. She said that she did not observe her son drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.
“[Wayne’s mother] did recite a lot of past experiences she had with Wayne and was in fear that his aggressive behavior may escalate,” Officer McKenna explained. “[She] stated that Wayne did not assault her this evening and was only being verbally abusive. [She] explained that Wayne had taken a two-hour nap and then woke in the condition he was currently in.”
Wayne was placed under arrest for assault and battery on a police officer.
His bail was set at $40.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story was from July, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to get the court documents for the incident. FOIAs are time consuming.
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