Local News

‘Nightmare scenario’: North Andover officer appeals to SJC in hopes of being released again

Lawyers for Kelsey Fitzsimmons say that a judge mishandled her case by ordering her to return to jail over an issue with alcohol testing.

North Andover Police Officer Kelsey Fitzsimmons during her arraignment in Essex Superior Court in Salem on Aug. 28. Ben Pennington/The Boston Globe

By Ross Cristantiello

October 6, 2025

2 minutes to read

Lawyers for a North Andover police officer who was shot by a colleague earlier this year are asking the state’s highest court to release her from jail.

In a recent court filing, lawyers for Kelsey Fitzsimmons sharply criticized an Essex Superior Court judge’s handling of the case, arguing that she caused “a completely improper nightmare scenario” by ordering Fitzsimmons to return to jail.

Previously:

Fitzsimmons, the North Andover officer, faces one charge of assault with a dangerous weapon stemming from an incident that occurred on June 30. An armed confrontation took place in Fitzsimmons’s home after some of her colleagues arrived there to serve her a restraining order filed by her fiancé.

According to a police report, Fitzsimmons attempted to shoot one of the other officers and was subsequently shot in the chest by a colleague.

Fitzsimmons and her lawyers say that she never aimed a weapon at another officer. Instead, they maintain that Fitzsimmons grabbed a gun and attempted to take her own life before being shot by the other officer. Since the NAPD does not use body cameras, the case is essentially a “he said she said” affair, Fitzsimmons’s lawyers say.

Fitzsimmons was initially charged with assault with intent to murder, but this was rejected by a grand jury. She was released on a number of conditions last month, including that she submit to alcohol testing. However, Fitzsimmons only spent a few days out of custody before being ordered to return to jail.

Fitzsimmons said that she could not use the alcohol testing device because breathing into it caused immense pain, dizziness, and impeded the healing of her broken ribs. Judge Kathleen McCarthy-Neyman determined that, given Fitzsimmons’s “history of aggressive behavior while intoxicated,” alcohol monitoring was necessary to ensure the safety of the general public. If she could not use the alcohol testing device, she would have to return to jail.

In court filings, McCarthy-Neyman said that Fitzsimmons and her attorneys failed to transparently provide information related to Fitzsimmons’s ability to submit to alcohol testing. This, she wrote last month, is a “manipulation of this court’s efforts to fashion the least restrictive conditions of release.”

McCarthy-Neyman’s order can be read here.

Last week, Fitzsimmons and her team appealed to the state’s Supreme Judicial Court, asking a single justice of the SJC to vacate McCarthy-Neyman’s ruling. They argue that Fitzsimmons should be able to use urine testing or another alternative way to monitor alcohol use. They also accuse McCarthy-Neyman of “hostility, interruptions, obtuse posturing, presumptive skepticism, willful blindness as to the availability of other methods of testing, and grossly injudicious behavior.”

Read the latest court filing from Fitzsimmons below:

Fitzsimmons Emergency Bail Petition for Single Justice Final by Ross Cristantiello