LEOMINSTER — On Monday, Nov. 6, 2023, at about 11:32 a.m., Officers Caulin Salvi, Daniel Parrish, and Matthew Chagnon of the Leominster Police Department responded to the Wendy’s on North Main Street following a report that an employee there had been threatened with a knife.
(The account and quotations in this article were taken from the printed Personnel Narratives of Officers Salvi and Chagnon.)
When they arrived on scene, Officers Salvi and Parrish went into Wendy’s and spoke with the employees, who identified the suspect, a man wearing a red shirt with a black, unzipped hoodie over it in the parking lot.
“I exited the store with Officer Parrish and saw that Officer Chagnon was inside his cruiser near the individual,” Officer Salvi said.
Officer Salvi told the suspect to put his hands above his head. The man initially complied, then dropped his hands to his sides and began to verbally protest the officer’s order.
“I again ordered him to raise his hands and keep them up,” Officer Salvi said. “I began talking to the individual who identified himself as Eric Rivera, while Officer Chagnon positioned himself in a handcuffing position.”
Rivera, 35, is a resident of 57 High Street, Apt. 2, in Fitchburg.
Officer Salvi told Rivera that he was being detained because he had received a “disturbing phone call and required his cooperation.” Officer Chagnon then placed Rivera in handcuffs, searched him, and located an orange-handled folding knife in the left thigh pocket of his jeans.
“Eric was detained with Officer Chagnon while I returned to Wendy’s to speak with the reporting party,” Officer Salvi said. “Danny Diaz identified himself as the caller and the victim. Danny stated that he had been struck in the face, that the man had threatened him with a knife, and had threatened to kill him. Danny was flush pink in the face and was visibly shaken, his voice sounded distressed and he was talking rapidly.”
Diaz, 43, told Officer Salvi that he had returned from Leominster hospital to Wendy’s to begin his shift when he observed Rivera outside. Diaz said he recognized Rivera because he tried to trespass him from Wendy’s a few weeks ago, but Rivera ran off before he got the chance.
“Danny explained that Eric, upon seeing that Danny was looking at him, came up to him and began confronting him in Spanish. Danny states that Eric flashed a knife at him and threatened to kill him,” Officer Salvi said. “Danny states that Eric told him that ‘he will call his boys’ to come get him, and then swung his right hand at Danny’s face, making contact just before Danny’s ear with an open hand. Danny then retreated into the store which is where he called 911.”
The district manager of the Wendy’s, a Gardner woman, then showed Officer Salvi the coverage area of the store’s security cameras. As it turns out, the store does not have a camera that covers the north side of the store where the altercation allegedly took place.
Officer Salvi added, “I observed that Taco John’s has a camera but it is pointed at Main Street and not towards the area between the restaurants.”
Rivera was then arrested on an active warrant and additionally charged with assault with a dangerous weapon.
After Rivera was arrested, Officer Chagnon pat frisked him again.
“In Mr. Rivera’s pocket I removed a cigarette container, which had a small clear corner cut baggie with a white powdery substance inside, between the cellophane and container of the cigarette package, through my training and experience I believed this to be crack cocaine,” Officer Chagnon said. “In the same location I observed what appeared to be a gum wrapper (silver) folded up, that package was later opened and it contained a brown powdery substance believed to be heroin. I also observed his fanny pack, which had an open zipper, to have a small glass tube commonly used for smoking crack cocaine in plain view. All items were removed from Mr. Rivera’s person before transport.”
Rivera was taken to the Leominster Police Department for booking. During the booking inventory search, which Officer Chagnon and Sgt. Matthew Fallon assisted with, police had Rivera remove his fanny pack and searched it again once it was off his body. One of the first things police located in the fanny pack was a golf ball-sized bag of cocaine.
“Inside said fanny pack that was taken off Mr. Rivera, I located a larger corner cut clear bag, tied off, with a white powdery substance inside believed to be cocaine,” Officer Chagnon said. “I also located a scale as well as two small red clear bags with a powdery substance inside, this packaging is associated with dealing drugs rather than personal use. I also observed another small clear bag with white powdery substance believed to be crack cocaine wrapped up in foil.”
Police then weighed and inventoried the drugs and found the following:
- A golf ball-sized bag of cocaine (a Class B drug in Massachusetts) weighing 18.38 grams
- One baggie of crack cocaine weighing 0.23 grams (crack is also a Class B drug)
- Two small pink Ziploc baggies of heroin, weighing 0.35 grams (heroin is a Class A drug)
- A gum wrapper with 0.37 grams of heroin in it
Following the search, Sergeant Fallon said, “Adding up the quantities of the three samples of white powdery substance believed to be cocaine, equals 18.92 grams, which is over trafficking weight (18 grams). From my training and experience, carrying a digital scale, along with this quantity of drugs packaged this way is consistent with distribution. Please be advised that Eric Rivera (dob 11/23/1987) has a history of drug offenses. He has guilty convictions for Possession to Distribute a Class A Drug and Possession to Distribute a Class B Drug. For that reason, he will be charged with subsequent offenses for this case.”
The active warrant Rivera had at the time of his arrest was from Fitchburg District Court on May 9, 2022, for the following charges:
- Possess to Distribute Class B Drug (Cocaine)
- Possess to Distribute Class A Drug (Heroin)
- Possess to Distribute Class A Drug (Fentanyl)
- Possess to Distribute Class B Drug (Buprenorphine)
- Possess to Distribute Class C Drug (Clonazapam)
Rivera was officially charged with the following:
- Assault with Dangerous Weapon (for threatening Diaz with a knife)
- Assault and Battery (for striking Diaz in the face with his right hand)
- Threat to Commit a Crime (for threatening to kill Diaz)
- Possession of Trafficking Weight of Cocaine (for possession of a scale, baggies used for distribution purposes, and over 18 grams of cocaine)
- Possession with Intent to Distribute Class B Subsequent (for possessing crack and cocaine)
- Possession with Intent to Distribute Class A Subsequent (for possessing heroin)
Rivera was arraigned in Leominster District Court on November 7.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story was from November, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to get the court documents for the incident. FOIAs are time consuming.
