Teen to plead guilty as accessory in shooting of Revere police officer

A teenager who allegedly set in motion a series of events that ended with the killing of a Revere police officer is expected to plead guilty today in a Dedham courtroom.

Derek Lodie was 17 years old when he walked onto the athletic field behind Revere High School at 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 29, 2007. A verbal confrontation occurred between Lodie and a group of adults who were drinking that included several Revere police officers.

Officer Daniel Talbot, a member of the department's gang unit, taunted Lodie about the Bloods, according to court records filed earlier in the case by Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office. Lodie -- who did not know Talbot -- allegedly used his cell phone to summon Robert Iacoviello Jr., 20, a suspected member of the street gang.

"As Talbot approached Lodie, who was continuing to taunt and in the process draw Talbot towards the parking lot, Iacoviello ambushed him," Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin wrote in court papers.

Talbot, 30, was shot in the head and later pronounced dead. At the time, Talbot was in the park with his fiancée and three other Revere police officers splitting a six pack of beer, authorities have said.

Iacoviello has pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge and is being held without bail.

At the time of Lodie's arrest, defense attorney J.W. Carney Jr. called the events that led to Talbot’s death "very unusual and very suspicious."

The shooting led to the firing of Revere Police Sergeant Evan Franklin after an internal investigation. Franklin ran from the scene and ordered the first arriving police officer to drive him home, not provide assistance to Talbot, according to the investigation.

Relatives of Talbot are expected to address the court when Lodie pleads guilty today, according to a spokesman for district attorney. Lodie will appeared today in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham because Superior Court Judge Patrick Brady, who has handled the case, is now hearing cases there.

Revere Police agree to new contracts, will allow drug tests

REVERE-Police unions have agreed to contracts authorizing random drug testing, giving the chief oversight on detail assignments and providing $295,000 in raises through 2010.

Some of the money for raises has been set aside in the city budget but Superior Officers’ Association President James Guido acknowledged Mayor Thomas Ambrosino may call unions back to the bargaining table to revisit raises if “things get bad.”

An Ambrosino letter to the City Council hinted that call could come sooner or later.

“I expect that, in the very near future, I will be engaging each of the municipal unions in discussions involving the deferral of future benefits for the purpose of avoiding significant reductions in personnel.”

Ambrosino earlier this month said he is bracing for reductions next July, possibly as early as January, in state money to the city.

In his letter, Ambrosino explained random testing provisions in the Revere Police Employees’ Association and Revere Police Superior Officers’ Associations pacts are tied to contractual education benefits. Under a state law called the Quinn Bill, police are paid to advance their educations.

Lynn Daily Item - Full Story

Revere SWAT trains & talks

REVERE - Special Weapons and Tactical teams must train for various scenarios of danger and this past Thursday they used a vacant house in North Revere as their training ground.

Team leaders were disappointed that an armored truck was not available for the all-day training on remote Columbia Street. The truck would have been used to rip the front of the house off with chains — something SWAT teams across the country are trained to do.

Instead, 22 members of the Revere, Everett and Malden police departments’ SWAT teams broke windows, busted through doors using battering rams and threw a real “flash-bang” smoke grenade through a living room window with deafening results. The intention of the explosion is to distract the suspect inside and allow police to move in. Dummies were placed in the house as the targets officers were to apprehend.

Lynn Daily Item - Full Story

Police Enforcing Click it or Ticket

PEABODY - The Peabody Police Department is joining forces with several other Massachusetts city and town police departments in the state's effort to promote seatbelt use.

From now until Nov. 30, the city will increase traffic enforcement, public information and community outreach to reduce automobile-related fatalities, injuries and economic loss. All is made possible through the state's Click It or Ticket mobilization program, which first began in fall 2002.

(Lynn Daily Item-Full Story)

Revere residents arrested for impersonating State Troopers

REVERE-Two Revere residents were arrested Saturday for impersonating police officers and robbing their victim in East Boston, police said.

Edward Rivard, 36 and Marlene Choukas, 43, of Revere were arrested with Robert DefFreitas, 41, of East Boston.

The addresses of the suspects were not available on Sunday, but Item records show Rivard was arrested by Revere police for assault and battery on a police officer among other charges June 28, 2007 when he lived at 34 Franklin Ave. He allegedly spit blood at an officer who tried to detain him after attacking a woman.

(Lynn Daily Item - Full Story)

Winthrop Police grieve pay issue

The Winthrop police union recently filed a complaint with the state alleging that town officials violated their collective bargaining agreement by withholding up to $32,500 in detail pay without notice. (Boston Globe - Full Story)