BAIL HIKE FOR FALMOUTH FAMILY
Accused of contributing to officer shoot chaos
FALMOUTH — A mother and her teen son accused of contributing to the chaos that culminated with two police officers being shot Friday were held on increased bail yesterday, despite their lawyer’s effort to persuade a judge they were trying to calm things down.
Kimberly Koval, 38, and her son Marcus Maseda, 18, pleaded not guilty to obstruction of justice and assaulting police, accused of interfering with the officers who were responding to complaints about Koval’s son Malik Antonio Koval, 21, who is accused of shooting and wounding both cops. Kimberly Koval and Maseda were led off in handcuffs after Falmouth District Court Judge Lisa F. Edmonds raised the $5,000 cash bail each had already posted to $7,500.
“I’m pleased that they are back in custody,” Falmouth police Chief Edward Dunne said after the hearing. Uniformed police filled the cramped courtroom yesterday. Officer Donald DeMiranda was undergoing surgery yesterday at Boston Medical Center to remove a bullet from his shoulder. Officer Ryan Moore, whose neck was grazed by gunfire, is recovering at home.
DeMiranda and Moore were trying to stop Malik Koval from smashing bottles outside his house on Ashley Drive while his mother and brother were returning home from work, when police say Malik Koval opened fire on them. Malik Koval, who was critically wounded by the officers’ return fire, remains hospitalized in Boston, his arraignment date still unknown.
“I don’t know where it all came from, but as you’ve seen over the last couple of months, there is no respect for the uniform anymore,” Dunne said. “These officers, including (slain Yarmouth police) Sgt. (Sean) Gannon and (slain Weymouth police) Sgt. (Michael) Chesna, they were doing their job.
“It’s not all right to attack or shoot at police officers, and we have to get back to a time when the uniform was respected,” Dunne said.
Maseda, a recent high school graduate, and his mother, who works in a senior center, face up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Dunne declined to say if his department has had run-ins with the family before.
Prosecutor Jessica Croker said when backup arrived, Moore was bleeding from his neck and DeMiranda was running for an ambulance with his shirt peeled off.
Croker said Kimberly Koval and Maseda were both yelling and screaming at police “during this ongoing dangerous and chaotic investigation.”
Both are accused in court documents of jumping on Moore’s back before he was shot.
“Maseda was yelling and inflaming bystanders that had gathered, while police were trying to block traffic,” Croker said.
Defense attorney Jens Bahrawy said Maseda has no criminal history, while his mother had one case that was dismissed in 1996.
He said she has endured “a long, tortuous history” with accused shooter Malik Koval, “trying to do what’s best for him.”
Bahrawy said police were already en route late Friday afternoon when Kimberly Koval got home from work and was trying to address an issue with Malik Koval about the neighbors’ trash.
After her elder son went outside, “She heard shots fired from inside the house. She actually went out and tackled Malik to the ground and held him there until police officers came and dealt with him,” Bahrawy said. “Close by was this firearm. She actually pushed it and kicked it away from all the parties involved. So, this is not a person who is looking to create problems.
“She is dreadfully remorseful and sorry, obviously, for what happened to the Falmouth police officers,” he said. “She’s not someone who generally would be involved with the police.”