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Posted by: DeputyFife

Published: 09/29/2007
Police: Lynn man assaults trooper, triggers chase
By Ethan Forman
Staff writer




PEABODY - A Lynn man assaulted an undercover state trooper attempting to arrest him yesterday afternoon in Peabody, triggering a 2 1/2-hour manhunt that included the use of a state police helicopter, state police Sgt. Robert Bousquet said last night.
David Woodworth, 44, of 40 Flint St., Lynn was arrested and charged with resisting arrest, assault and battery on a public employee and assault with a dangerous weapon, his keys. Bousquet said he could not release the name of the undercover state police officer, which would compromise his identity.
The trooper did not suffer serious injuries and was later able to arrest Woodworth.
At about 12:30 p.m., the trooper recognized Woodworth and stopped him on Fulton Street in Peabody, near Treadwell's ice cream. He learned that Woodworth was wanted on warrants for drug possession charges in the city of Lynn, among other charges. When the trooper attempted to arrest him, they fought and the suspect got away in his car. He drove a short distance down Fulton onto Tremont Street and then ran into the woods, police said.
Fulton Street runs between Walnut and Tremont streets in the eastern section of the city, not far from the Salem line. The area also includes the Carroll School on Northend Street.
Police lost sight of Woodworth in the area of the Carroll School. He was described as a white, heavy set male with a long ponytail wearing shorts and no shirt, according to a Peabody police report. A K-9 unit was called in to help with the search.
"It wasn't long after he fled he was brought back into custody," Bousquet said. Woodworth was found on Burnham Street, not far from where he fought with the trooper.
He was taken to Salem Hospital for unspecified injuries, along with a state police escort. Woodworth has been in trouble with the law in the past.
According to an item in the The Salem News, he was arrested on Donna Street in Peabody along with a Peabody woman on Oct., 5 2005, and both were charged with possession of a class B substance. Woodworth was additionally charged at the time with trafficking in cocaine, possession of a class A substance and unarmed robbery.
Bousquet said he is to be arraigned in Peabody District Court on Monday.

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Posted by: DeputyFife

Published: 10/02/2007
Police report offers new details about alleged assault on cop
By Julie Manganis
Staff writer
View as a multiple pages



PEABODY - A literal blow-by-blow account of a violent felon's struggle with and escape from an undercover state trooper Friday was among new details about the case that emerged yesterday from David Woodworth's arraignment.
Woodworth, 44, of Lynn was already set to stand trial on cocaine trafficking charges today in Salem Superior Court. Now he's facing a new series of charges, including assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest, as a result of Friday's incident in Peabody.
Woodworth is being held on $50,000 cash bail - a bail set by Peabody District Court Judge James O'Leary after looking at Woodworth's 19-page criminal record, filled with violence and drug crimes, and the facts of the new case.
On Friday afternoon, a state police trooper working undercover on another case spotted Woodworth on Walnut Street. Not only did the trooper recognize Woodworth, but he knew that Lynn police had a warrant for him on charges that he had fled from them last week when they tried to arrest him on drug charges, the trooper wrote in a lengthy police report filed in court yesterday.
The trooper wrote that his suspicions were also aroused by the fact that Woodworth was talking on a cell phone and being slowly followed by a man driving a BMW. He suspected that the two men were about to engage in a drug deal.
When the trooper next spotted Woodworth, on Fulton Street, he was leaning into the window of the BMW. The trooper approached, holding out his badge on a chain.
Woodworth let out an expletive and ran down Fulton Street, chased by the trooper, who eventually caught up with him and tackled him, according to the report. Woodworth ripped the officer's badge from his neck and yelled for help, leading two women to come out of a nearby home, one of them claiming that the suspect was her boyfriend and was not Woodworth, the trooper wrote.
Woodworth told the officer that he needed to go inside to get his identification, but when the trooper wouldn't let him, Woodworth threw another punch and the scuffle continued, according to the trooper's account. At several points, the trooper struggled to get handcuffs on the very sweaty and now shirtless Woodworth, who had somehow gotten hold of a set of keys and began jabbing at the trooper, the report said. After Woodworth slithered out of the trooper's grasp, he stood in front of him yelling "Let's go," the trooper wrote.

The trooper pinned Woodworth against the side of a car, but in a moment where the trooper was briefly distracted by the arrival of Peabody police, Woodworth somehow slipped into the car and drove away, the report said.
Police eventually found the abandoned car on Lincoln Road. They then canvassed the area with a trained search dog.
The dog tracked Woodworth to a shed behind a home on Burnham Road, where police found him lying on the floor. There was yet another violent struggle before Woodworth was arrested, according to the report.
While being treated for cuts at a local hospital, Woodworth told troopers he didn't want to go to jail and offered them "some guys that push serious weight," a reference to higher-level drug dealers, the trooper wrote.
The troopers, based on prior experience with Woodworth, rejected his offer, citing a lack of credibility, the report said.
When he was arrested, Woodworth, who was due to go on trial today on drug trafficking charges stemming from a 2005 arrest in Peabody, was carrying more than $6,800 in cash, which police seized.
Woodworth is due back in court on Oct. 31 for a pretrial hearing.

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