GARDNER — On Friday, July 19, 2024, around midnight, Officers Alexa Morgan and Angel Espada of the Gardner Police Department responded to a report of a possible physical altercation between two men near the Family Dollar on 100 West Street.
(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Morgan and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)
Upon arrival, Officer Morgan observed a man she recognized from previous calls, Joe Thompson Jr., standing with his walker and yelling in the roadway near the A-1 Mart located at 157 West Street. Across the street, another man, later identified as Casey Kurtz, was shouting back at him.
According to police, Casey Jacob Kurtz, 26, resides at 242 Park Street, Apt. 3, in Gardner.
Joe Thompson Jr. is 65 years old and uses a walker, police say.
Officer Morgan said she spoke with a married couple who live at 172 West Street who witnessed the incident. The wife told Officer Morgan that she saw Kurtz “being verbally aggressive toward Joe, who was standing there with his walker.” She said she came outside her residence to intervene until Gardner police arrived on scene.
Kurtz, who works at the Family Dollar on West Street, explained that he had trespassed Thompson from the store due to “several issues.” According to Kurtz, he has had ongoing problems with Thompson, who has accused him of being racist and routinely says inappropriate things to him. According to Kurtz, when Thompson entered the store that day (July 19), he continued this behavior.
Officer Morgan reported that, according to Thompson, while he was inside the store, Kurtz “verbally assaulted him” and told him that they could “take care of the issue” when he clocked out. Thompson said that when he then left the Family Dollar and began walking toward the A-1 Mart, Kurtz followed him and continued verbally assaulting him there. Thompson stated that he raised his phone and informed Kurtz that he was going to record him, but Kurtz knocked the phone out of his hand. Thompson then retrieved his phone and called 911.
“Casey said he was tired of Joe’s behavior and did smack the phone out of Joe’s hand because he did not want to be recorded,” Officer Morgan said.
Officer Morgan arrested Kurtz for Assault and Battery on a Person 60 or Older.
“As we were driving away, although Joe did not recant his statement that he was assaulted, he said that he no longer wanted Casey arrested,” Officer Morgan said. “Officer Espada asked Joe if he wanted to complete a victim statement and he declined.”
Officer Morgan transported Kurtz to the Gardner Police Station where he was booked and then transported to court for his arraignment which took place later that morning.
“Casey was compliant and respectful toward officers throughout our interaction with him and admitted that putting his hands on Joe was wrong,” Officer Morgan added.
During his arraignment in Gardner District Court on July 19, 2024, Kurtz pleaded not guilty and was released on his own personal recognizance.
His next court date was a pretrial hearing scheduled for Aug. 16, 2024.
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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