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Main Page Defense Attorney: "She's a LOVELY girl."
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Posted by: Wolfman

Police say 'road rage' driver struck officer with car

By Elizabeth Boch, Globe Correspondent, 6/25/2003

The sound of a woman screaming yesterday morning made Mark Mezzandri drop tools onto the roof where he was working in Weymouth. But then he realized that the woman, apparently furious about an accident on Route 18 that blocked her way, was shouting expletives at a police officer.

Officer Steven Shalno later reported that the woman told him: ''I don't care who [expletive] died. I'm more important.'' It didn't end there. The driver, later identified by police as 25-year-old software engineer Anna Gitlin, was pulled over by police at a gas station at the intersection of Route 18 and Middle Street. Mezzandri said she rolled down her window, but instead of complying with Shalno's request for her license and registration, she shifted the car into gear and started to drive. And when Shalno tried to grab the car, Gitlin closed the window on his hand, according to Weymouth police.

Mezzandri said he watched as the woman then put down the window to release the officer, made a U-turn onto the street, then edged her Toyota Corolla forward while the officer was standing in front of it.

She waited through a red light, and the incident seemed to be over. But when the light changed, the car struck Shalno, throwing him onto the hood of the Corolla, police said. Shalno was taken to the hospital with leg injuries. Gitlin, of Weymouth, was charged with attempted murder of a police officer.

''This takes the cake,'' said Mezzandri, of North Attleborough, who had watched from the roof of a convenience store. ''It was total mayhem.''

Not only did Gitlin strike the officer, she then tried to flee the accident scene, police allege.

It wasn't until a tractor-trailer blocked the road that Gitlin stopped, police said.

An off-duty Boston police officer reached in her car and grabbed her keys, said Weymouth Police Lieutenant James Mullin. After that, the backup on Route 18 created by a minor accident that spilled diesel fuel grew even longer.It's not unusual for construction and accident delays to fuel rising tempers, Mullin said, but yesterday's incident was extreme. ''We see road rage, but generally, it's not against a uniformed police officer in the middle of an accident scene,'' Mullin said. ''It seems to be getting more bizarre. It's getting worse. No one would get in her way.''

Mezzandri said that after Gitlin's car was surrounded by squad cars, he climbed down to get his camera from his truck and took pictures of police officers escorting her to a squad car.

''Maybe she didn't have her coffee,'' he said. ''Everybody just stopped and watched this.''

Shalno was taken to South Shore Hospital and released after he was treated for bruises and cuts and a possible left knee injury.

Gitlin pleaded not guilty in Quincy District Court yesterday afternoon to charges of attempted murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, negligent driving, and disorderly conduct. She posted $5,000 cash bail and was released. David Traub, spokesman for the Norfolk district attorney's office, said: ''I have no recollection of a cop being attacked because of the simple frustration of driving.''

Defense attorney Elliot Levine of Quincy said the software engineer, who works in Canton, is a ''lovely girl'' who emigrated from Russia at age 10 and has no prior driving offenses or criminal record. He called the attempted murder charge ludicrous, saying Gitlin never intended to kill Shalno. ''If somebody is in front of a car and you want to kill them, you don't inch the car forward,'' Levine said.

''She's not a killer, and she's not a violent person. She's anything but that.''

The accident scene was cleared by noon.

Mezzandri was still shaking his head last night about the encounter. ''I couldn't even imagine the kind of brass it takes to pull something like that,'' he said.

Posted by: mv577

She'll look lovely in orange.....

Posted by: PATS246

Doesnt that just make you sick. Makes you want to go out and lock up 50 people and write 100 cites.

Posted by:

Hey come on now. She moved here from Russia when she was 11 and has only lived here for 15 years. Maybe she didn't know the laws of our fair Commonwealth!

She's lucky the cop didn't "10 ring" her through the windshield. He should be given a medal for restraint and cool headedness. Something I will never be given.

Maybe car surfing will become the newest craze in Law Enforcement. Who knows?

Posted by: cjm74

They should tie bloody steaks around her head, waist and ankle and tell her to swim back to Russia.

Posted by: DUKE1005

I've got to agree with you on that one MANNI!

Posted by: Joe B

Quote:

Originally Posted by HousingCop

Hey come on now. She moved here from Russia when she was 11 and has only lived here for 15 years. Maybe she didn't know the laws of our fair Commonwealth!

She's lucky the cop didn't "10 ring" her through the windshield.

Ya, if she pulled that kind of sh!t in her good ole' homeland they either would have put one through the side of her pretty little smug faced head or knelt her down and put one in the back of it!

Posted by: fscpd903

Sick, she should be put away for that, or sent back to Russia... What a bod though

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