A Stoughton man who hung out in state jail for motorcar murder is in additional authorized bother after he allegedly assaulted cops in Boston, an altercation during which he urged officers to name his “boss, the female governor.”
Joshua Cooper, 36, turned “increasingly agitated” when officers with the Boston Police Division gained custody of him after they responded to a ShotSpotter activation in Dorchester early final Saturday morning.
Officers noticed a “large group” congregated on Gleason Road after they arrived round 3 a.m. A person, later recognized as Cooper, is claimed to have “walked as much as officers along with his left hand inside his pocket and requested, ‘Do you want to see my badge?’ in line with an incident report.
“Officers observed an empty holster on the right side of Cooper’s pants and handcuffed him after a brief struggle,” the report states.
Stress flared when officers allegedly discovered a tan and inexperienced Smith & Wesson handgun with a 12-round journal, with one spherical within the chamber and 6 rounds within the journal, within the driver’s facet of a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Cooper informed officers he didn’t have a license to hold, in line with the incident report. Officers gained entry to the automobile, parked throughout the road from the ShotSpotter activation, when a key fob fell out of Cooper’s pocket.
When officers arrived with Cooper on the BPD’s Roxbury workplace for reserving, the person allegedly “refused to allow his hands to be placed in ‘hand preservation bags’ designed to preserve evidence of gunshot residue,” the report states.
Cooper continued to refuse to cooperate after crime lab technicians entered the reserving space to swab his arms, “claiming that his wrists were injured from being placed in handcuffs,” however officers reportedly “did not observe any visible marks on his hands or wrists.”
“Officers attempted to de-escalate the situation and gain Cooper’s (voluntary) compliance to which he repeatedly refused,” the report states. “Throughout the duration of this encounter, Cooper insisted that he ‘handcuffs kids all day’ (referring to his position as a DYS worker), urged Officers to contact his boss, ‘the female Governor,’ and claimed he was going to sue Officers while smiling and laughing.”
The state Division of Youth Companies didn’t share info with the Herald on deadline relating to Cooper’s employment with the company, however they didn’t deny he was a DYS employee.
Payroll data by way of the state Comptroller’s Workplace present that Cooper works as a “Youth Service Group Worker I” for DYS, incomes $59,222 to date in 2025, as of July 12, at an annual charge of $65,427.
Cooper earned $16,299 within the place final 12 months at an annual charge of $63,522, data point out. The 2024 payroll is the primary time he’s listed as a DYS worker.
The BPD incident report additional alleges Cooper turned violent after he “initially cooperated in placing his hands behind his back, but instantly tensed up his arms upon observing handcuffs.”
“Cooper forcibly brought both of his hands towards the front of his body and wildly attempted to swing his fist towards an officer,” however he “violently struggled, knocking multiple Officers to the ground and nearly making contact with the civilian crime lab technicians who were barely able to exit the cell.”
Not less than one officer suffered a lower to his proper elbow after hitting the concrete floor, the incident report states.
“Cooper continued to be violently combative as Officers struggled to place him in handcuffs,” the report continues. “He proceeded to incoherently shout about a lawsuit while spitting on the ground towards Officers as they struggled to place him in handcuffs.”
The chaos prompted an officer to allegedly “strike Cooper with a closed fist in his head /face area while Cooper continued to laugh and spit.”
Cooper has been charged with possession of a big capability firearm, carrying a loaded firearm with no license, carrying a firearm with no license, possession of ammunition with no firearm identification card, assault and battery on a police officer, and resisting arrest.
Choose Jonathan Tynes set bail at $3,000 and ordered Cooper to keep away from the situation of the offense throughout an arraignment at Dorchester Boston Municipal Courtroom on Monday. Cooper is due again in courtroom on September 18 for a possible trigger listening to.
“As if being charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition wasn’t serious enough,” Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden stated in a press release on Thursday, “this man apparently chose to multiply his offenses by resisting arrest and assaulting police officers. His actions resulted in an officer being injured and more charges for himself.”
The Suffolk DA’s press launch didn’t point out that Cooper referred to his place with DYS throughout the violent confrontation. The small print got here to mild within the BPD incident report which the Herald obtained Thursday night.
Cooper served a four-year sentence in state jail that started in 2014 after the then 25-year-old Brockton man was concerned in a motorcar murder that killed 42-year-old Morris Webb.
Prosecutors in that case stated Cooper swerved round a stopped automobile at a visitors mild, ran the sunshine, and struck Webb’s SUV. Webb was ejected and pronounced useless on the hospital, whereas Cooper and a passenger in his automobile had been injured.
Prosecutors stated Cooper’s blood alcohol content material was above the authorized stage to drive, and he was barred from consuming alcohol as a situation of probation in a earlier case.
A job software for DYS’ “Youth Service Group Worker I” position outlines {that a} “criminal background check will be completed on the recommended candidate” earlier than they’re employed.
The position entails staff working with “juvenile justice-involved youth and young adults (most are 16-20 years old) in a 24-hour-a-day / 7-day-a-week locked residential facility.”
The applying provides that staff are “expected to use physical interventions to maintain safety and security (following) department policies” if “verbal de-escalation attempts are exhausted.”
“In this team-led environment,” the appliance states, “you will ensure the safety and security of the youth while offering the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and life skills needed to become responsible and independent adults.”
