Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

July 26, 2012

New England Dispatches

From news service reports

LEOMINSTER, Mass.

Chief urges firing officer over racial slur at game

The Leominster police chief on Wednesday recommended firing an officer who his internal investigators say directed a racial slur at Red Sox outfielder Carl Crawford during a minor league game.

Police Chief Robert Healey said during a disciplinary hearing that Officer John Perrault has made other "repugnant comments" and repeatedly violated department standards.

Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella has 48 hours to decide on the chief's recommendation.

Perrault, who is white, has been on paid leave since he called Crawford, who is black, a "Monday" before a July 5 minor league game in Manchester, N.H. Perrault was attending the game while off duty.

Crawford, who was rehabilitating a wrist injury in the minor leagues, reported the remark to stadium officials. The word can be a derogatory term for blacks when it's associated with the common phrase "I hate Mondays."

Perrault has used racial slurs on at least two other occasions, Healey said.

In one instance, Healey said, Perrault insulted a black man who was in Leominster for a St. Patrick's Day celebration and wearing a T-shirt displaying the name of the Irish beer Guinness. The man was angered when Perrault said, "I didn't know they serve Guinness in Africa," Healey said.

Perrault didn't testify at the hearing or comment to the media outside the hearing.

Perrault's attorney, Joseph Sandulli, said during the hearing that no one has ever brought a complaint against his client. Interviewed outside, he said Perrault didn't use the term "Monday" in a racial way, but as a way to comment on Crawford as a ballplayer by saying, "You're a bum."

MANCHESTER, N.H.

Mail carrier, 44, indicted in sex assaults of children

A New Hampshire mail carrier has been indicted on felony charges of sexually assaulting three young children inside his postal vehicle.

Forty-four-year-old Francis Saucier of Tyngsborough, Mass., faces seven felony and three misdemeanor charges.

He was first arrested in April, when Manchester police say he let several children into his official postal van to "play house," and allegedly spanked a 10-year-old boy. Saucier's route was on Manchester's west side.

He was indicted Friday on additional charges of aggravated felonious sexual assault. Manchester Police Sgt. Craig Rousseau said the three victims range in age from 7 to 10, and include the boy police say was the victim in the April misdemeanor charge against Saucier.

Saucier is also charged with two counts of indecent exposure.

Rousseau said Wednesday that Saucier remains free on the same bond he posted in April. No date has been set for his arraignment in Hillsborough Superior Court North.

Police said parents in the neighborhood became suspicious of Saucier's behavior and contacted them, launching an investigation by Manchester detectives. 

Three men facing charges of kidnapping after standoff

Three people have been arrested by the FBI and face federal kidnapping charges following a standoff in Manchester, N.H.

FBI officials have accused Thomas Wallace of Raymond, Henry Maldonado of Manchester, and Jose Guzman of Salem of kidnapping several people from Massachusetts and bringing them to Manchester on Tuesday. They were expected to be in court in Massachusetts on Wednesday.

Police said their investigation started when they received a call from a man who said he had been assaulted and held against his will.

After learning the possible suspects might be armed, police deployed a SWAT team to an apartment building. Six people were evacuated from the apartment about a half-hour later.

Police eventually arrested the men. WMUR-TV reported they found one victim handcuffed and hiding.

 

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