An lawyer for the off-duty Massachusetts police officer shot and injured by colleagues who had been serving her a restraining order says his consumer stays in “grave condition” and has fallen sufferer to an “appalling campaign to criminalize her.”
North Andover police officer Kelsey Fitzsimmons has retained lawyer Timothy Bradl for her authorized case within the aftermath of final Monday’s “armed confrontation” with colleagues at her house.
Fitzsimmons faces one cost of assault to homicide and two prices of assault with a lethal weapon in connection to the altercation, in line with data from Lawrence District Courtroom.
Bradl says he and his consumer “intend to fight these charges with every legal resource available,” breaking his silence after he alleges a “probate court affidavit – full of hearsay and self-serving allegations – was deliberately and widely leaked, smearing Kelsey’s name in the press.”
“This was not an accident,” Bradl said in a launch late Wednesday night time. “It was a strategy, and we must set the record straight to assure future fairness for our client.”
Addressing the media final Tuesday, Essex County District Legal professional Paul Tucker highlighted how three North Andover cops, together with a supervisor, had been dispatched to a Phillips Brooks Street house to serve Fitzsimmons a restraining order the night earlier than.
Fitzsimmons, 28, on administrative go away from the police division, and the responding officers in the end engaged in what Tucker described as an “armed confrontation.” One of many officers “discharged their weapon,” hanging Fitzsimmons, the DA stated.
In his launch, Bradl said that the restraining order shocked Fitzsimmons, with the daddy of her 4-month-old child acquiring it in an “ex parte fashion” as he sought to “take the child away from her.”
Tucker shared that the restraining order required Fitzsimmons to give up weapons she had and avoid the North Andover Hearth Division, the place her fiancé works as a firefighter.
The Boston Globe first reported final week that Fitzsimmons’ fiancé shared fears that she would kill their toddler son and take her personal life, prompting him to hunt a restraining order in opposition to her, in line with courtroom data.
“I fear she will kill the baby at any moment,” the fiancé wrote. “Kelsey is threatening to take the baby ‘far, far, far away for a long, long time.’ This is how she has spoken about killing herself in the past.”
“She punched her stomach repeatedly while pregnant,” he added, “saying she would kill herself and the baby.”
The city of North Andover positioned Fitzsimmons on administrative go away on April 30, two months after she gave beginning to the couple’s son on Feb. 16, courtroom data present. Weeks after the beginning, she was involuntarily dedicated to Lowell Basic Hospital for 12 hours of therapy for postpartum melancholy, the Globe reported.
The fiancé, in search of full authorized and bodily custody of his son, additional alleged in courtroom paperwork that two days earlier than the incident, whereas the couple was in Maine, “Kelsey struck me with a closed fist 3x to the face. I was scared she would not stop.”
“Today, we speak on behalf of Kelsey Fitzsimmons – she needs another voice to speak for her because she remains in grave condition in the hospital,” Bradl said in his launch, “as those with contrary interests are circling the wagons, leveling serious criminal charges and leaking their self-serving probate court affidavits in an attempt to discredit her as she fights for her life.”
Bradl outlined his protection technique, which he stated will “address the ‘shoot first fallacy’ held by some law enforcement officers that the instant a gun appears that the only response is to fire first.”
The lawyer additionally revealed the technique will embrace an examination of the so-called “‘officer created jeopardy,’ whereby due to inadequate training or inappropriate response, an officer creates dangerous circumstances in a call that are, in turn, met by a deadly force police response.”
“Kelsey is a new mother who was manifesting symptoms of postpartum depression at the time of the incident,” Bradl said. “She needed help. She needed compassion.”
“What she got instead was gunfire and now, an appalling campaign to criminalize her in order to deflect accountability from the agency responsible for this botched response. Instead of de-escalation, she was met with deadly force.”
The Essex County District Legal professional’s Workplace declined to remark additional on Thursday, offering the Herald with solely Fitzsimmons’ prices and stating that the defendant stays hospitalized. The workplace added that it’ll “apprise the media of any arraignment.”
Tucker stated final week that the officer who shot Fitzsimmons is a “veteran cop” with over 20 years with the North Andover Police Division.
“We call on the public, the media, and all those who care about due process and accountability to watch this case closely and wait for all the facts to come out,” Bradl said. “Consider issues related to postpartum depression in young mothers, and the use of deadly force by police when faced with those suffering from emotional or mental impairment.”
“This should never have happened,” he added, “and it must never happen again.”
