Massachusetts
Massachusetts prison guard who was knocked unconscious shares his ‘scary’ story: ‘I don’t want this happening to anyone else’ [see video]
![Massachusetts prison guard who was knocked unconscious shares his ‘scary’ story: ‘I don’t want this happening to anyone else’ [see video]](https://i0.wp.com/www.bostonherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DOC.jpg?w=1024&h=774&ssl=1 "Massachusetts prison guard who was knocked unconscious shares his ‘scary’ story: ‘I don’t want this happening to anyone else’ [see video]")
The local prison guard who was knocked unconscious and ended up in the hospital has shared his “scary” story, stressing that the state needs to stop drugs from flowing into correctional facilities.
Officer John Connelly is still recovering from the traumatic incident at MCI-Shirley last month when he was exposed to a toxic substance and rushed to the hospital.
This latest ordeal involving an injured correction officer comes as the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union continues to fight for safer conditions inside Bay State prisons.
On July 20, Connelly had been attending to an unresponsive inmate in their cell.
“It was pretty bad,” Connelly recalled about the inmate episode in a union video. “He wasn’t even responding to anything that we were saying to him.”
The prison guard then looked down at the inmate’s sock and saw a package: A piece of paper was wrapped up in a square. Connelly opened it up, and believed it was the synthetic drug K2. He saw some white residue, and quickly closed it up.
Connelly then remembers telling his partner that he was feeling weak.
” ‘I don’t have my legs. I don’t really feel that strong,’ ” he recalled saying.
As the correction officer was checked out, he got really hot and sweaty.
“I fell out of it,” Connelly said. “I don’t really remember anything after that… I could just feel my heart going crazy and then my mind started going crazy, and I don’t remember anything after that.”
He then woke up in the hospital, and was very confused. The doctor told him that he was going to be OK, but that it would take some time to recover.
“I was in pretty bad shape,” Connelly said, noting that he had multiple seizures.
This is the second time that the prison guard has been exposed to toxic substances while on duty, the previous time happening in 2018. This recent incident was definitely worse, he said.
“It’s scary because it’s really affecting me pretty bad,” Connelly said, adding that he was soon heading to see his neurologist to schedule an MRI for his head. “I just break out in uncontrollable shakes sometimes.”
“It’s hard to deal with my mental health right now,” he said, noting that he was given Narcan four times during the incident.
Connelly has a baby girl who he wants to pick up “but at the same time, I don’t want to drop her.”
In the union video, he was asked whether he feels safe at work.
“That’s a tough question, man, after what just happened,” Connelly said. “Sometimes yeah, but we work in a very dangerous environment, and I know sometimes we can be subject to this. But I just wish there was more precaution because I don’t want this happening to anyone else, because it’s not alright, it’s really not.
“I just wish we were more proactive on the drugs that are inside,” he said, later adding, “We go to serve and protect every day. We put our lives on the line because it’s not only about our safety, it’s about the people, the inmates that live in the institutions around the state. Their families are trusting us to make sure that they do their time and they get out.”
Following Connelly’s hospitalization and a reported string of similar incidents, the public safety union is urging the Massachusetts Department of Correction to implement an “exposure policy” for when officers are exposed to synthetic drugs and chemicals, including fentanyl and K2.
“Let’s try to get all hands on deck to kind of combat this,” Connelly said. “And let’s keep fighting, and let’s just keep climbing until we find something that works for both sides.”
The state agency should launch weekly or regularly rotating institutional shake downs, cell and block searches and deploy its canine department, the union president said previously.
“I will not let one of our members become a fatal statistic before the DOC leadership decides to act and work with this union to address these major safety issues,” said Dennis Martin, president of the union. “Leadership is expected to make decisions.
“Currently, there’s a void at the DOC,” he added. “Neither our members nor inmates are safe inside Massachusetts prisons. As your president, I am asking the DOC leadership to implement a policy that will protect the courageous men and women of this union.”
Courtesy / Massachusetts Department of Correction
Officer John Connelly is still recovering from the traumatic incident at MCI-Shirley last month when he was exposed to a drug and rushed to the hospital. (Massachusetts Department of Correction photo)
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Massachusetts
Mass stranding of bottlenose dolphins off Cape Cod said to be largest in Massachusetts history
Rescuers were working to save around 30 bottlenose dolphins that got stranded off the coast of Cape Cod early Monday morning. It is the largest known stranding of bottlenose dolphins off Massachusetts, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
The dolphins had become stranded between First Light and Ellis Landing in Brewster at about 5:30 a.m. when they came in with the tide. A woman noticed the animals and reported it. The IFAW quickly responded to the area, but five to six of the marine mammals died before help arrived.
The IFAW worked throughout the day on Monday to get the mammals away from the shoreline before the next low tide at 5:13 p.m. They said late Monday afternoon that they were still successfully being steered away.
“Our team remains in the area to monitor and herd the animals away from shore,” an IFAW spokesperson said. “We know these events can sometimes repeat in the coming hours and days, but we remain hopeful.”
The organization said it had seen an uptick in bottlenose dolphins becoming stranded off Cape Cod in the last few years.
“Bottlenose dolphins are typically an offshore species,” the spokesperson said.
They asked that anyone who encounters a stranded or distressed marine mammal not get close and never drag or push the animal back into the water.
“Similar to a person involved in a car accident, dolphins can become injured and exhausted during a stranding event,” the IFAW said.
Instead, they recommend calling their IFAW stranding hotline at 508-743-9548.
A man has died following an apparent drowning at a pond in Randolph, Massachusetts, on Sunday.
The Randolph police and fire departments received a 911 call at around 4 p.m. for a swimmer in distress in the water on Pond Street, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office..
Firefighters located the man a short time later, officials added, and he was taken by ambulance to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Kingston Fire Department had said just before 4 p.m. that their dive team was activated for a missing swimmer in Randolph, but that the activation was canceled after the swimmer was located.
Further information is not being released at this time, including the man’s name.
Massachusetts State Police detectives and the Randolph Police Department are investigating.
Firefighters in Lawrence, Massachusetts are working to contain a fire that damaged at least three buildings on Sunday afternoon.
Lawrence Fire Chief Patrick Delaney said they received multiple 911 calls about the buildings on fire at the intersection of Haverhill and Margin Street at about 12:45 p.m.
When firefighters arrived, there were three occupied multi-family buildings with heavy fire.
“Crews did an excellent job once they arrived on scene to make sure we did a primary search of all three buildings, make sure everybody was out,” Chief Delaney said.
No injuries have been reported. It is unclear how many people have been displaced from the three buildings that were on fire.
Chief Delaney said the firefighters were impacted by the hot weather.
“The crews are working extremely hard, they’re taking a lot of heat in all three fire buildings and we’re trying to get crews in here to make sure that they’re safe and give them some relief,” Chief Delaney said.
Investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire. Firefighters from other nearby communities responded for mutual aid.
“We’re at a fourth alarm which brings a lot of resources to our city, but they’re well needed in a fire like this,” Chief Delaney said.
Police are asking residents to avoid the area of Haverhill Street at Margin Street because of the fire.
Lawrence, Massachusetts is a city about 30 miles north of Boston.
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