MBTA Officers Deny Beating Homeless Man

BOSTON — A former MBTA police officer accused of beating a homeless man with a baton in a train station and abusing him in a sham booking process while he was still working for the transit police was released on personal recognizance Tuesday after pleading not guilty, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said. Two current sergeants accused of helping him cover it up were also arraigned and released.

Dorston Bartlett, 65, of Lynn is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, violating a person's civil rights, misleading a police officer, and assault and battery. Prosecutors said Bartlett, who retired last year during an investigation, hit a 32-year-old homeless man multiple times with his baton at the Ashmont station in the early hours of July 27, 2018.

According to Assistant District Attorney Andrew Doherty, Bartlett, with the assistance of a T inspector, then shoved Watson out of the station door and chased him out of the area. Watson ran off to a nearby intersection and then collapsed on the sidewalk, according to a court document. Bartlett then drove his cruiser to Watson’s location, tossed him his backpack, and told Watson to “Get the [expletive] out of here.”

According to the statement of the case, Bartlett went back to Ashmont train station, briefly conferred with the T inspector, and then drove off. The man who was beaten managed to flag down a passerby in Peabody Square, who called 911 and told the dispatcher that he had been beaten by a cop, according to the document. A radio call was broadcast that dispatched two Boston Police Officers to Peabody Square to respond to the call. GPS data from Bartlett's cruiser shows that he'd been about a mile away but drove back to Peabody Square when the radio call went out, according to the prosecutor.

Bartlett approached the Boston Police officers and informed them that he had been searching for
Watson to arrest him because Watson had assaulted him, according to court documents.

Bartlett arrested the homeless man after the assault and attempted to charge him with assault and battery on a police officer, prosecutors said. The officer also grabbed and pushed the man during the booking process, prosecutors said.

The man was released without charges when a member of Transit Police command staff found out about Bartlett's alleged force and reviewed public safety cameras and the preliminary draft of the arrest report. That also sparked the investigation into Bartlett, who prosecutors said gave false statements to two Boston Police officers who responded to the scene.

David Finnerty, 43, of Rutland and Kenny Orcel, 55, of Chelmsford pleaded not guilty to making making a false report as a public officer or employee. They are also indicted as accessories after the fact to assault and battery with a dangerous weapon due to what prosecutors said was collusion among the three to create a false incident report.

"The conduct alleged in these indictments is unacceptable at every level," District Attorney Rachel Rollins said in a statement earlier this month.

Finnerty was the shift officer in charge and Orcel was the shift patrol supervisor during the alleged beating and cover up. Both were placed on leave during the investigation.

"Words cannot express the extreme disappointment I have in the officers who violated the victim and the public's trust in such an egregious manner," MBTA Police Chief Kenneth Green said in a statement earlier.

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