Man Arrested After Parking Lot Debacle At NETA In Brookline: PD

BROOKLINE, MA — On Sunday afternoon as more than a 100 folks were standing in line at New England Access Treatment near the corner of Route 9 and Washington Street, a parking rage situation turned into a police foot chase and an arrest.

Police arrested Andrew Santana, 23, and charged him with disorderly conduct and two counts of threats to commit a crime (assault and battery and assault and battery on a police officer).

Santana later told police he'd come by the marijuana dispensary to make a purchase before he headed out of state the next day. But rather than park on the street or around the corner at a meter, he pulled into the lot reserved for medical marijuana patients, according to police.

That's when things started to go sour.

The parking attendant asked to see his medical marijuana card issued by the state, but the man just cursed at the attendant, according to the police report, and parked illegally. The parking attendant later told police that he was worried that Santana, who was about 6' tall, might try and punch him.

Two police officers in full police uniform working the detail went over to talk to the man, who had crossed the street and had stood in one of the lines, rather than go straight in, as folks with the medical cards can do. The man then started yelling at police as they attempted to talk to him while he was in line, according to police.

One officer walked up to Santana and said if he could just tone down the aggression, and possibly move the car, everything would be fine. But as some 100 people looked on, police said, Santana continued to shout obscene language and exhibit threatening behavior.

"Santana literally had the attention of over 100 customers and staff," the report read.

Police said they told him he would be placed under arrest if those threats continued.

When he didn't stop, police told him he was now going to be placed under arrested, but he ran through the line out onto Route 9. Both officers followed him, as he continued to scream at them, according to the police report. Police said vehicles traveling had to slow and change lanes to avoid hitting the man, who had pulled out his cell phone and was now filming officers as he walked backwards on the road, according to the report.

He ran off across Washington Street toward Pearl Street and near 10 Brookline Place and the officers followed him, and others were called in for backup.

Another officer saw Santana had jumped down into the bushes near the Brookline Village MBTA stop, where he was hiding. Police told him to come out or they'd spray him with pepper spray, the report said.

That's when he finally came out and they were able to take him into custody.

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).