Crime

Two men arrested by state police in separate assaults on troopers

“These incidents were brazen, and deliberately violent assaults perpetrated by motivated offenders on public servants.”

A still image from the video of the Wakefield incident. Massachusetts State Police

By Lydia Evans

1 minute to read

State police charged a 24-year-old man Tuesday for assaulting a trooper during a traffic stop, the second arrest of its kind within a week after a 19-year-old motorcyclist almost ran over a trooper last Wednesday.

Upon stopping 24-year-old Hernan Aybar Romero on Interstate 495 in Tewksbury last Friday night for motor vehicle violations, the trooper determined he had four outstanding warrants for his arrest, including for charges of drug trafficking, state police said. 

As Aybar Romero was being handcuffed, he allegedly became violent with the trooper. Aybar Romero was able to re-enter his vehicle and speed away, police said. The trooper was later treated and released from a local hospital.

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On Tuesday, the “exhaustive” investigation into Aybar Romero’s whereabouts came to a close when he was found in a Lawrence apartment, according to police. He was arrested on 10 additional charges, including assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest, among others. 

This marked the second assault of a trooper within a week, following the arrest of 19-year-old motorcyclist Colin James Webb of Reading. 

Webb was stopped for “erratically” operating his vehicle on Interstate 95’s Exit 57 off-ramp in Wakefield last Wednesday, police said. After the trooper approached the motorcycle on foot, Webb allegedly disregarded his instructions and drove forward. The officer, who was in front of the bike at the time, was able to disengage and move to the side. Police shared video of the encounter.

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Webb was arrested two days later on three of the same charges as Aybar Romero in addition to nine disparate charges, such as speeding and failure to stop for police. 

“These incidents were brazen, and deliberately violent assaults perpetrated by motivated offenders on public servants,” said Col. John Mawn Jr., superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police. “We work very hard to ensure that violence directed against any victim — police officer or civilian — is answered with a swift and thorough response, and that was exactly what was done in these two investigations.”

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