Hub cops credit good Samaritans with saving cruiser from burning
Good Samaritans are being credited with stepping up to save a police cruiser from being burned in broad daylight Thursday in downtown Boston, cops say.
Their quick work — plus providing a photo of the suspect — helped police nab a 40-year-old Boston man accused of trying to light two vehicles, including the cruiser, on fire.
“We are thanking the witnesses that came forth and called 911, as well as assisted in putting out the fire and prevented the cruiser from going on fire,” Boston Police spokesman Sgt. Det. John Boyle said.
Officers responding to a call shortly before noon left their cruiser in the area of West and Mason streets. Witnesses called 911 saying a man placed a blanket under the rear of a police cruiser near the gas tank and lit it on fire before fleeing. Officers returned to find a charred blanket after the good Samaritans put out the flames.
Police got another call at 12:30 p.m. for smoke coming from a blanket placed under a different vehicle near Arlington and Boylston streets, and arrested the accused suspect in Copley Square.
Daniel Lucey, 40, of Boston, is facing two counts of arson of a motor vehicle. He is expected to be arraigned Friday in Boston Municipal Court.
The incident comes nearly two weeks after a Boston Police Department cruiser was torched during a night of violence and looting that followed a day of peaceful protests over the killing of George Floyd, a black man, in Minneapolis police custody.
Tensions remain high as protests continue and conversations shift from denouncing police brutality to a national reckoning over systemic racism.