Boston Police captain issued 3-day suspension for handling of protests, fight

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A Boston Police captain has been suspended for three days after an internal investigation found violations connected to his conduct in two protests and the “physical contact” he made with a man who had alleged excessive force.

A department investigation determined that Capt. John Danilecki neglected his duty, used poor judgment and failed to complete required police reports for these incidents, but did not use improper force, as alleged in at least one case.

“The commissioner has signed off on the findings and the discipline of a three-day suspension has been imposed,” Boston Police spokesperson Mariellen Burns told the Herald in a Tuesday email.

The BPD Internal Affairs Division sustained a neglect of duty violation, for failing to complete a required incident report, but dismissed five other counts including a use of non-lethal force violation reported by Dorchester resident David Nave in 2019.

Nave said Danilecki grabbed and pulled him down to the ground, and pinned him there with a knee to his chest while he was speaking with the neighborhood “kids” who had allegedly stolen his son’s phone, according to federal court documents.

Internal Affairs did not sustain another violation charging Danilecki with untruthfulness in his police report, nor did it find that he violated department rules around respectful treatment and unreasonable judgment.

Danilecki stated in a police report at the time that Nave was acting aggressively, and he had put him on the ground for his own safety, according to prior media reports. His required reporting on the incident was incomplete, however, resulting in the sustained violation.

“Captain Danilecki failed to complete a required department report or a FIOE report after activating himself in a fight he had observed and making physical contact with the complainant,” the Internal Affairs violation states.

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The internal investigation also sustained two other violations connected to a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest and a 2019 “Straight Pride Parade.” Danilecki was reported to have torn up a protestor’s sign during the 2020 demonstration and released pepper spray on people protesting the parade a year earlier.

Video also depicts Danilecki pushing and grabbing protesters, and attempting to rip the mask off of one, at the Straight Pride Parade, according to footage shared as part of a prior Boston Globe report.

“During a protest Captain Danilecki used poor judgment when he seized and destroyed an item without inspecting its evidentiary value,” the violation states, referring to the 2020 incident. “The item was a cardboard sign belonging to one of the demonstrators and not contraband as he thought.”

For the earlier case, Danilecki “failed to complete a required FIOE report when he used force while having an interaction with the complainant who was attending the Straight Pride Parade,” the violation states.

Boston Cardinal urges parishes to be ‘ready and willing to assist’ as migrant crisis escalates

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Cardinal Sean O’Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston issued a letter Tuesday calling on the Catholic community to help out as the state runs out of room for incoming migrants.

“I stress that this is a crisis but is only going to expand,” O’Malley wrote in a letter to pastors and the parishes of the Archdiocese. “I offer this invitation in the spirit of Pope Francis, who has asked us as Catholics to watch the peripheries of society where suffering is located.

“In our time migrants and refugees are among the most vulnerable individuals and families in the United States,” he continued. “It is my hope and desire that as a church we respond generously and effectively.”

The cardinal’s letter comes a week after Gov. Maura Healey announced that the state would run out of room to shelter migrant families by the end of the month.

As of mid-October, the Healey administration said the state was sheltering over 7,000 migrant families. By the end of the month, they’ve stated the number is expected to hit 7,500.

Massachusetts is the only right-to-shelter state, meaning the government is required to provide emergency shelter to families with children, and a recent influx of migrant families into the state led Healey to declare a state of emergency this fall.

“I made an effort last week to be really clear with the public about the state of play,” Healey said of the migrant crisis Monday. “The fact of the matter is, we have reached our limit with capacity and the physical infrastructure to house people.”

Over the last few months, O’Malley said, Catholic Charities, St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children and the Archdiocesan Planning Office for Urban Affairs have worked closely with the administration to increase capacity to for housing and support services.

Healey also thanked the many people who “stepped forward and worked in partnership to house and care for families” Monday. With state leadership, she restated calls for federal aid — though, speakers noted, the U.S. House dysfunction has effectively blocked that possibility — and action, including faster work authorizations for the migrants.

Asked what will happen when the first family is turned away, state leaders said they are still developing a plan.

O’Malley asked church leaders to “review this letter with your parish staff and prepare your parishioners to be ready and willing to assist” as the crisis reaches the upcoming breaking point.

The letter laid out steps for parishes including getting a St. Vincent de Paul bin for donations and inviting donations of winter gear like coats and boots and basic necessities like diapers and toothbrushes.

As shelters fill to capacity and New England winter sets in, O’Malley said, the appropriate response for the Archdiocese may be the biblical sense of “welcoming the stranger” for short-term critical care and shelter. Those able and willing to host families were directed to contact Fr. Bryan Hehir’s office.

Boston school bus involved in crash

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A Boston Public Schools bus with children onboard was involved in a multi-vehicle crash Tuesday morning.

Massachusetts State Police and Boston EMS responded to the scene on Riverway in Boston at around 7:30 a.m. and cleared the scene two hours later.

Details on the crash are sparse, as the MSP says the crash remains under investigation, but authorities say that the bus, a 2023 Ford Econoline, and a 2023 Toyota Camry collided and three parked and unoccupied other vehicles were also involved and damaged.

EMS transported a passenger in the Camry, a 51-year-old Brockton woman, to Beth Israel Hospital to be treated for minor injuries. The vehicles driver, a 65-year-old Taunton man, was not injured.

The three occupants of the bus — 53-year-old Dorchester woman who was its driver, as well as two students, 15 and 17 — were medically cleared at the scene.

The bus and one of the parked vehicles, a Tesla, were towed.

Absenteeism in Massachusetts school districts [+link to your school]

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Across the state, chronic absenteeism is still “staggering,” DESE officials said Tuesday — though some districts have done better than others at keeping kids in class.

Statewide, attendance rates averaged out to 92.5% for the 2022-23. The state saw a moderate improvement in chronic absenteeism — missing at least 10% of school days — from the pandemic peak, moving from 28% to 22% in 2022-23, but is still leagues off of pre-pandemic rates. Compared to 2019, chronic absenteeism is up 72%.

Students missed an average of 13 days of school in the 2022-23 year.

Here’s how a sample of major school districts fared in the 2022-23 school year:

More 2022-23 attendance data is available on: profiles.doe.mass.edu/statereport/attendance.aspx