Two Cops Use Pepper Spray to Defend Themselves While Getting Choked, Beaten by Seven Attackers

Two Boston police officers were about to put handcuffs on 19-year-old Woobenson Morisset on a warrant for defaulting on court appearances. That’s when, police say, Morisset yelled out — and the nearby apartments emptied. A group of six — Morisset’s 18-year-old brother and five juveniles — allegedly joined Morisset in beating and choking the two officers Monday night, Boston.com reported.

The unnamed officers, a man and woman, used pepper spray to defend themselves before backup arrived, WBZ-TV reported. The officers didn’t draw their guns. Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Dana Pierce described the scene after the two officers encountered Morisset. The Boston Globe reported:

Two officers found him in a rear stairwell, where a “violent struggle ensued” when they tried to arrest him, Pierce said. One officer got elbowed in the neck, suffering vocal cord contusions and hemorrhaging, and the other, a woman, took a punch in the face, the prosecutor said, without specifying who delivered the blows. In the process, police lost control of Woobenson Morisset and “from there on it was essentially a melee in a very narrow stairwell,” Pierce said. The seven teens, acting as a group, punched, kicked, and choked police, resulting in bumps and bruises to both officers and hand, head, and hip injuries to the female officer, she said.

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