Investigation of Boston police officer Michael McManus causes Southwick parents of David Woodman to relive anger, pain from son's death

Investigation of Boston police officer Michael McManus causes Southwick parents of David Woodman to relive anger, pain from son’s death

Manon Mirabelli
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/11/investigation_of_boston_police.html

Manon Mirabelli photo
Cathy and Jeffrey Woodman, of Southwick, with photos of their son, David, who died after sustaining injuries during an arrest while celebrating the Boston Celtics 2008 NBA championship.

SOUTHWICK – The same Boston police officer investigated for his role in the 2008 death of David J. Woodman was captured on video last month allegedly using excessive force in the arrest of a 16-year-old Roxbury boy.

Cathy and Jeffrey Woodman say this latest incident is an insult to their son’s memory and a blow to their fragile attempts to move on with their lives in the two years since David’s death.

David Woodman was a 22-year-old Emmanuel College student on June 18, 2008, when he had a confrontation with police during a celebration of the Boston Celtics’ NBA championship. His heart stopped during the incident as police took him into custody on a public drinking charge, and he was dead 11 days later.

“I hoped that they had learned something, but it happened again,” Cathy Woodman said. “The police officer who initiated the attack that took my son’s life is at it again. He didn’t learn anything, and he is not humbled. He doesn’t care that he killed someone. We will always hold him responsible for our son’s death.”
Michael T. McManus, 32, a patrol officer assigned to the district that covers Roxbury, is on administrative desk duty while the internal affairs division of the Boston Police Department investigates the Oct. 22 arrest of a 16-year-old Roxbury boy. He is among at least six officers who were captured on cell phone video by a witness who then posted that video on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXDJvBaTTDQ&feature=player_embedded

Boston police officers attempt to subdue a 16-year-old suspect at Roxbury Community College.

“Nothing hurts more than to know he’s at it again,” said Cathy Woodman. “This has reignited all the feelings we have, all the anger and pain, to know it’s happening again.”

Boston Police spokesperson Eddy Crispin said Wednesday that McManus, who joined the force in 2007, a year before his encounter with Woodman, “is on administrative duty pending the outcome of this latest incident.”

“This incident is still under investigation,” Crispin said. “The other one was fully investigated and resolved.”

A witness to the arrest of the Roxbury juvenile, whose name has not been released, used a cell phone camera to record McManus and at least five other officers punching and kicking the teen while he was on the ground at an entrance of Roxbury Community College.

“When Jeff and I heard about this, we looked and saw the same officer who was so aggressive with David go after this kid with a mob of officers on top of him,” Cathy Woodman said.

According to police, the officers struggled to hold down the suspect and struck him after he swung a handcuff at them, then tried to hit and kick them. The suspect has a pending charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

“The police overreact, then demonize the suspect,” said Cathy Woodman. “Instead of just owning up to it and taking responsibility, they cover it up then put the families through hell to defend their children.”

Woodman said a private investigation initiated by Boston civil rights attorney Howard Friedman found that it was McManus who made initial physical contact with her son as David walked down a street near Fenway Park with a cup of beer in his hand after being told to stop by police.

“ I hoped that they had learned something, but it happened again. The police officer who initiated the attack that took my son’s life is at it again. He didn’t learn anything, and he is not humbled. He doesn’t care that he killed someone. We will always hold him responsible for our son’s death.”
– Cathy Woodman, mother

The ensuing struggle resulted in Woodman being handcuffed on the ground, but sometime during the altercation he stopped breathing, according to reports of the incident. His mother says David Woodman was deprived of oxygen for four to 10 minutes and suffered brain damage. He lived for 11 days before dying in the hospital.

“He woke up five days later, and the first thing he said was, ‘Hi Mom,’” Cathy Woodman recalled.

The last time she spoke with him was by phone, she said, when he said, “I love you, Mom.”

Police maintain Woodman’s death was caused by a pre-existing heart condition, but Cathy Woodman said the condition as not responsible for her son’s death. “He had a heart condition, but he was not at risk for dying,” she said.

“Our medical expert said his condition was not the cause of death,” Cathy Woodman added. “Even the Boston medical examiner put on the death certificate the cause of death was fatal arrhythmia due to brain damage” caused by the lack of oxygen.

Both Woodman and Friedman say witness statements from the 2008 altercation revealed police did not attempt to revive David after he collapsed. Police refuted that account and said one of the officers on the scene tried to give David Woodman mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, while McManus performed chest compressions.

“The key thing is that when the paramedics arrived and asked what happened, what the police told them simply wasn’t true,” Friedman said. “They said he collapsed and that they did not try to arrest him. It’s shocking, just shocking, that they would not tell the truth when someone was seriously injured.”

An independent panel ruled there was a “lack of supervision” and other “missteps” by Boston police and concluded that Woodman may have stopped breathing for several minutes before officers realized his condition. The panel concluded, though, that none of the mistakes contributed to Woodman’s death.

The city paid the Woodman family a $3 million out-of-court settlement in a civil lawsuit in June.

The late David Woodman, center, is seen in this undated family photograph with his parents, Cathleen and Jeffrey Woodman.

“The settlement was their idea, not ours,” said Cathy Woodman, who added that the money was put in a charitable foundation established in her son’s name. The first scholarship in David Woodman’s name was awarded in June to a senior graduating from his alma mater, Southwick-Tolland Regional High School.

“There is
no closure. There is no such thing when your child dies” Cathy Woodman said while fighting tears as she spoke about the allegations against the Boston police. “It is like your skin – it’s always with you. You feel it all the time. The sense of injustice is so defeating.”

Friedman said he is not involved in this latest incident, but “that doesn’t mean I might not.” “From what the video shows, there was a civil rights violation,” he said.

This newest development, Friedman added, does not bode well for the Boston Police Department.

“To now be involved in two incidents is a bad sign for the officer, but to be involved in a somewhat similar case is a bad sign for the department,” he noted.