Baker pushes bill to increase penalties against cop-attackers
Gov. Charlie Baker wants state lawmakers to quickly take up his new legislation that will unleash harsher penalties on suspects who seriously injure a police officer — a tough-on-crime measure that comes in the wake of the murder of an Auburn police officer.
“I would hope that this issue would be given pretty serious consideration in pretty short order,” Baker said yesterday on Boston Herald Radio’s “Herald Drive” show.
The Herald first reported yesterday that Baker was ready to file legislation that would boost the charge of assault and battery on an officer — now a misdemeanor — to a felony, punishable up to 10 years, in cases where the officer sustains a “serious bodily injury.”
The legislation also sets a minimum mandatory sen- tence of one year, and would bar judges from continuing cases without a finding, giving defendants suspended sentences or ordering them to probation without first serving jail time.
“If you decide to engage in an aggressive and dangerous way with a police officer, the penalty for that is going to be higher than the equivalent of pushing a postal clerk,” Baker said.
Baker said the legislation was partially motivated by the killing of Auburn police officer Ronald Tarentino Jr., who was gunned down a month ago by Jorge Zambrano, who was later shot and killed by police.
Zambrano had a history of arrests and assaults against cops, including in January when he was charged in Worcester when police say he grabbed the uniform shirt of an officer and pulled him into a car where a large pit bull was inside.