Man who faced charges after heckling Rollins files suit against her, BPD, and Worcester DA
The lawsuit claims malicious prosecution, malicious abuse of process, retaliation, intentional or reckless infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress, according to the complaint.
A man who was accused of intimidation for heckling then-Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins during a press conference in Boston last year has filed a lawsuit claiming malicious prosecution and other charges after a judge ruled in May that the man’s criticisms are protected by the First Amendment.
Rollins, Boston Police Detective Dante Williams, Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr., and Assistant District Attorney Anthony Melia are named as defendants in the suit, according to a copy of the complaint filed Wednesday in Worcester Superior Court by lawyers for Joao DePina, a community activist from Dorchester. The case stems from a verbal confrontation between DePina and Rollins on Nov. 9 as Rollins, who is now the US attorney for Massachusetts, was speaking at a press conference outside a crime scene in Dorchester where three police officers had been injured in a standoff with an armed suspect.
DePina loudly interrupted Rollins as she spoke with reporters during the briefing, which was broadcast live on television. DePina, whose younger brother, Michael, was killed in a shooting in Dorchester in 2014, criticized Rollins for her office’s response to gun violence in the city and its “incompetency …. to respond to his brother’s murder,” the complaint says.
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