The state DYS employee who beforehand frolicked in jail for motorized vehicle murder earlier than urging Boston cops to name his “boss, the female governor,” following a latest arrest has been positioned on unpaid depart.
The event has come to gentle after the Herald reported that the Boston Police Division arrested Joshua Cooper on gun and assault fees following a chaotic incident final weekend in Dorchester.
After being discovered illegally possessing a loaded gun, the 36-year-old Stoughton man allegedly refused to adjust to police orders earlier than continuing to knock a number of officers to the bottom.
“The arrest of a state employee, trusted to protect vulnerable children, on firearms charges raises alarming questions about who is being hired by Governor Maura Healey and whether stronger background checks would have uncovered his homicide conviction,” MassGOP Chairwoman Amy Carnevale mentioned in an announcement shared with the Herald on Friday.
Cooper served a four-year sentence in state jail starting in 2014 after the then 25-year-old man drunkenly drove by a crimson gentle and crashed into Morris Webb’s SUV, killing the 42-year-old father of three, in Brockton.
A Healey spokesperson declined to touch upon Cooper’s arrest, referring the Herald to the Division of Youth Providers.
A DYS official instructed the Herald that the company employed Cooper as a juvenile justice youth improvement specialist final September, noting a few of its staffers are “individuals who have lived experience with the justice system.”
On the time he triggered the deadly crash, Cooper had been barred from consuming alcohol as a probation situation stemming from a 2013 incident by which he was charged with assaulting a police officer.
Earlier than the motorized vehicle murder conviction, Cooper confronted fees stemming from two incidents in 2013. One prompted fees of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, and the opposite led to fees of assault and battery, assault with a harmful weapon and threatening to commit a criminal offense.
Over a decade later, Cooper utilized for a DYS youth improvement specialist place, finishing interviews and a background examine, bodily, drug take a look at and psychological screening.
The DYS official famous that candidates can elect to take part in a discretionary evaluate and waiver course of if their background examine raises an “issue of concern,” comparable to a felony conviction.
DYS employed Cooper after it “determined he met the regulatory criteria for consideration for a waiver and hire.”
Cooper is in authorized bother once more after the Boston Police Division responded to a ShotSpotter activation in Dorchester early final Saturday morning, discovering the person illegally possessing a loaded Smith & Wesson handgun.
Cooper turned “increasingly agitated” when he arrived with officers on the BPD’s Roxbury workplace for reserving, refusing to put his arms in preservation luggage designed to take care of “evidence of gunshot residue,” in accordance with an incident report.
“Throughout the duration of this encounter,” the report states, “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.”
Pressure escalated even additional, the report highlights.
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 … civilian crime lab technicians who were barely able to exit the cell.”
Dealing with gun and assault fees stemming from the chaotic ordeal, Cooper has been free after posting a $3,000 bail following his arraignment at Dorchester Boston Municipal Court docket on Monday. He’s slated to return to court docket in September for a possible trigger listening to.
“We’ve taken immediate action to place this individual on unpaid leave while this is under review,” DYS Commissioner Cecely Reardon mentioned in an announcement shared with the Herald Friday night. “This is unacceptable behavior, and we’re grateful to law enforcement for their actions.”
The company famous that Cooper’s unpaid administrative depart is in line with a related collective bargaining settlement.
Payroll information by the state Comptroller’s Workplace present that Cooper works as a “Youth Service Group Worker I,” 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 after his rent final yr, at an annual charge of $63,522, information point out.
A job utility for a DYS juvenile justice youth improvement specialist outlines {that a} “criminal background check will be completed on the recommended candidate” earlier than they’re employed.
The function 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,” offering them with “knowledge and life skills needed to become responsible and independent adults.”
The appliance 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.”
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