DA: MBTA cop ‘snapped’ in alleged 2014 attack
Ex-officer faces civil rights, assault charges
A former MBTA police officer “snapped” when she pulled out pepper spray and struck a Roxbury woman with a baton three years ago, a prosecutor said yesterday.
Jennifer Garvey, 34, is charged with violating the civil rights of Mary Holmes and injuring her at the Dudley Square MBTA Station on March 26, 2014. Yesterday marked the opening day of Garvey’s bench trial in Suffolk Superior Court.
Garvey is also charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and two counts of filing a false police report.
Prosecutors contend Garvey attacked Holmes, who had become concerned about how the T cop was interacting with a woman who was escorted off a bus. Holmes had called 911, which angered Garvey, prosecutor Michele Granda said.
“It’s when Mary Holmes put the 911 phone to her ear that officer Garvey couldn’t take it anymore. That’s when she snapped,” Granda said. “What happened to her did not justify her being sprayed in the face. It did not justify her being hit with a baton after that.”
Granda also said Garvey lied on the report about the incident she filed that day by claiming that Holmes had bumped into her “repeatedly” and that after she used pepper spray Holmes tried to “square off” with the officer.
Defense attorney Phil Tracy said during his opening arguments that by using pepper spray and a baton, Garvey was only following her department’s training, which is to avoid “hand-fighting.”
Holmes interfered with Garvey’s investigation, Tracy said. “Because of Miss Holmes, the whole thing escalated to a point where it was out of control.”
Holmes, who is black, is prejudiced against white people, Tracy said. He added any suggestion his client has problems with minorities is incorrect.
“The racial component of this case means nothing to her. She doesn’t have a racial animosity bone in her body.”