Couple caught shoplifting assault officers, cause disturbance at Leominster mall

LEOMINSTER — On Saturday, November 16, 2024, Officer Caulin Salvi and Officer Mackenson Adescar of the Leominster Police Department were dispatched to The Mall at Whitney Field, located at 100 Commercial Road, following a report of a fight.

(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narratives of Officer Salvi and Officer Tanner Jakola and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)

Officer Brandon Carlson was already on scene by the time Officer Salvi and Officer Adescar arrived.

“Officer Carlson located the two parties, John E. Newman and Brittani Lynn Sanderson. Officer Adescar and I went to meet him,” Officer Salvi said. “I met Officer Carlson in the public restroom hallway between JCPenney and the main mall area. John was visibly nodding off and almost fell over. Mall security advised me that both parties had been suspected of shoplifting from JCPenney and the Shoe Department. The hallway is open to the public and was equipped with a fire exit at the end near where officers were speaking with both parties. Officer Carlson offered and requested medical attention for John who kept refusing to be treated.”

According to police, John E. Newman, Jr., 47, is a resident of 18 Woodworth Avenue, Fitchburg, MA; and Brittani Lynn Sanderson, 32, is homeless in Fitchburg.

“Brittany was being verbally resistant and was not allowing Officer Carlson to clarify the reason for police presence,” Officer Salvi said. “John, after recovering from nodding off, then proceeded to tack on his own comments to Brittani’s argument with Officer Carlson. John and Brittani appeared to be yelling at each other as a means of avoiding cooperation with officers. John was then urged to speak with the fire department at which point Brittani was left with Officer Carlson and John stumbled his way to the ambulance with Officer Adescar and subsequently refused care from Leominster Fire Department medics. After it appeared that Officer Carlson had finally gotten through to Brittani; she refused to leave through the fire exit door I was holding open for them. At this time, a mother had to forcibly close the door to the women’s restroom to shelter her kids from Brittani’s misconduct and loud use of profanity. I held the door open until Brittani again refused to cooperate with Officer Carlson and she was told she was under arrest. John attempted to pull Brittani outside with him.”

Officer Salvi said that as Officer Carlson began trying to handcuff Sanderson was who allegedly refusing to comply, he called dispatch to request that Sergeant Ny Mao, the police department’s street supervisor, respond to the scene.

“John chose to stand half in the door and half out and refused multiple orders from officers to leave the property,” Officer Salvi said. “His continued presence was also making Officer Carlson’s arrest of Brittani difficult, as Brittani was trying to turn herself around to face John. Officer Adescar had just warned John that if he did not leave, he would be arrested. John still did not leave the doorway.”

At this time, Officer Salvi said he ordered Newman to leave or he would be placed under arrest.

“I informed him this was the last warning I would give him,” Officer Salvi said. “He did not comply and I stated that he was under arrest and placed my left hand on his wrist to gain control of his left arm. John attempted to move away from me and I had a grip on his left arm which he was fighting to keep close to his body. I attempted to order him to place his hands behind his back and he refused and continued to resist by pulling away and trying to walk us both in a circle. John’s movements were so jerky and uneasy that I had to let go of my handcuffs to maintain control of John and stay on my feet.”

Officer Salvi continued, “I adjusted my grip and moved my hands into an armbar position and perceiving John’s level of impairment from unknown substances and his physically resistant behavior, I determined that attempting a takedown was necessary to effect arrest and maintain control of the scene. I had to drop my weight and my knee struck the pavement and John’s cheekbone make contact with the sidewalk. John was still trying to keep his hands from being controlled by officers. Officer Carlson moved in to assist me and as he kneeled next to John, John spit at Officer Carlson. Officer Carlson then assisted me in controlling John and we were able to handcuff him.”

Officer Salvi said his knee was not injured when it struck the pavement.

“While walking John to Cruiser 4 he tried to jerk away from me, I held him from his bicep and his loose sweatshirt and Officer Carlson caught up to me and assisted with placing John into the cruiser,” Officer Salvi said. “I attempted to drive Cruiser 4 to booking for Officer Carlson and John began banging his head on the plexiglass partitions in the cruiser. Officer Carlson and I reapproached John to attempt to calm him down and he double kicked the cruiser door into us. I warned John that I would spray him with pepper spray if he did not calm down. John stopped kicking.”

Officer Salvi stated that while transporting Newman to the station for booking, Newman resumed banging his head against the cruiser’s plastic partition. Concerned for Newman’s safety, Officer Salvi decided to expedite the transport to the station using lights and sirens.

During the booking process, Officer Jakola, who searched Newman, found a Timex watch in Newman’s left pants pocket. Officer Carlson confirmed that the watch was among the merchandise reported missing from JCPenney.

“Employees stated to Officer Carlson that both Brittani and John had been handling merchandise in the store that has been reported stolen,” Officer Salvi said. “John was seen by employees playing with and trying to remove watches from their boxes prior to the incident that had police called. The watch in question has been confirmed to be the only one they had in stock and it was identified via SKU number.”

Officer Jakola noted that Newman was wearing jeans over a pair of shorts when he arrived for booking.

“John ended up going to the hospital, before he left, he took off his jeans and they were left at the station,” Officer Jakola said. “I was able to perform a more thorough search of John’s jeans while he was at the hospital. I turned each pocket of his jeans inside out. In his back pocket, I found one loose, white, oval-shaped pill with the markings ‘1 R’ on it. According to Drugs.com this is Lorazepam, a Class C drug. There was no prescription pill bottle in John’s possession. Officer [Shane] Crawford was at the hospital with John. The nurses advised there is no record of John being prescribed Lorazepam. The pill was put into evidence bag (# redacted) and placed in evidence locker 001. I advised the arresting officer of the additional charge.”

Newman was charged with the following:

1. Trespass
2. Shoplifting by Asportation
3. Assault and Battery on Police Officer
4. Possess Class C Drug
5. Interfere with Police Officer (Common Law)

Sanderson was also arrested and charged with:

1. Trespass
2. Shoplifting by Concealing Merchandise
3. Disturbing the Peace

Newman was arraigned in Leominster District Court on Nov. 18, 2024. He attended a pretrial hearing on Dec. 15, 2024. His next court date is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2025.

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.

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