QUINCY, PASTA. (WHDH) – The Norfolk district attorney’s office identified the man who stole a Rockland police car and led authorities in two pursuits on Friday before being shot dead by a member of the state police’s STOP team during a confrontation. tense in Quincy.
Eric M. Leach, 36, who lived in Brockton and Winthrop in the past, tried to get out of the crumpled cruiser with a patrol rifle in his hand near BJ’s gas station on Burgin Parkway when the officer opened fire, Norfolk district Lawyer Michael Morrissey said during a news conference.
The rifle in the patrol car was attached to a bracket that can only be accessed by police, but as Leach was in the vehicle for about three hours, he was able to bend metal brackets to hold the gun, Rockland Police Chief John Llewellyn said during a press conference.
Leach was taken by ambulance to Boston Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
About three hours earlier, police said he stole more than $ 300 in cash from a 7-Eleven in Rockland armed with a firearm before fleeing to a nearby neighborhood.
Neighbors on Brookside Road told Toni Bono that Leach frantically tried to enter several houses and that he seemed to be agitated.
“He said he was attacked by two children and asked to come in and everyone said no and then the last lady said, ‘I’m going to call the police’, and when she said that, he ran into the forest,” she said.
A lottery winner who entered the 7-Eleven to cash a ticket moments after Leach ran away was able to provide the police with his description.
When an officer later tracked Leach and ordered him to fall at gunpoint, he said, “shoot me, shoot me”, and refused to comply with the order, according to Llewellyn. The officer then fired a taser, but it proved ineffective because Leach was wearing a heavy sweatshirt.
Leach managed to escape on foot and stole the Rockland police vehicle before leading the police in a pursuit of Quincy, hitting several vehicles in the process, Morrissey said.
Llewellyn noted that one of the responding officers “forgot to lock the car” while running to arrest Leach.
An Abington policeman lost control of his vehicle during the chase and hit a pole.
Several agencies surrounded the Rockland police patrol car near exit 42 on Burgin Parkway while a state police STOP team and crisis negotiators responded to the scene.
But Leach was able to bypass the swarm of emergency vehicles and take off again before being stopped near the BJ gas station, when a pair of BearCats sandwiched the commanded vehicle.
The situation temporarily affected the Red Line and the urban train service and led to the closure of roads in the surrounding area.
Llewellyn noted that Leach had a “long criminal record” and is known to the police.
Investigators in Rockland continue to look for a weapon that he is believed to have owned during the theft. Llewellyn added that Leach may have thrown the gun out the cruiser’s window during the chase.
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