Five officers were injured in Taunton Tuesday night after a knife-wielding man allegedly attacked them following a chaotic sequence of events that started with a traffic stop and ended with a crash into a sober house and the alleged attack inside.
One officer was flown to a Boston hospital with serious slash wounds to the face and back of his head, a second officer was treated at the hospital for knife wounds. Taunton’s police chief was treated for a stab wound at Morton Hospital and two additional officers were treated for injuries sustained in the mayhem.
“When our men and women in uniform walk out their door every day for their shift, they never know what they’re going to face. And today we had some of our police officers injured,” Taunton Mayor Shaunna O’Connell said from the scene Tuesday night. “They did an excellent job tonight. We are grateful for their service to this community, for their sacrifice to this community, and our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families at this time.”
Police later identified the alleged assailant as Douglas Hagerty, 35, of Lakeville. Taunton Police Chief Edward Walsh said that Hagerty “is not familiar with us, but is familiar with neighboring departments” while speaking from the scene of the incident that night.
Hagerty was hospitalized following the incident and arraigned in Taunton District Court on multiple counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault with a dangerous weapon, and malicious damage to a motor vehicle, as well as single counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, armed assault with intent to murder, resisting arrest, reckless operation of a motor vehicle and failure to stop for police, according to the Bristol District Attorney’s office.
Police initially encountered Hagerty when he pulled alongside an unrelated traffic stop at about 6:45 p.m. on County Street and began shouting at officers, according to police.
“Earlier, different officers had a car stopped. He stopped and started an interaction with the officers there, making statements, being somewhat aggressive. The officers told him to leave, he left,” Chief Walsh told reporters. “A short period of time later, another officer came across him, performed a car stop because he was operating erratically on the road. And during that car stop, he took off, almost hitting the officer, at the car stop. So the officers at that point commenced to ensue.”
Police pursued him, according to the police report, during which he slammed into multiple cruisers before ultimately crashing his gray 2010 Honda Accord into a multifamily house on West Britannia Street.
The address, 55 W. Britannia St., matches the address for the Vanderburgh House, a “Zero Tolerance Men’s Sober House,” where rents start at $180 per week.
Chief Walsh said he believed Hagerty resided there and added that there could be a mental health issue involved: “I would make the assumption based on the actions tonight that there must be.” Another resident of the building allegedly told police that “Hagerty has not been acting right lately,” according to the report.
Two officers encountered Hagerty on the second floor of the building, according to the report, and struggled to apprehend him as he slashed away at them with a serrated knife. One officer was cut in the neck, face and back and the other officer was stabbed twice in his right arm.
Other officers, who according to the report were attending training at Holy Rosary Church, rushed to the scene after they heard about the attack at around 6:40 p.m., and the situation evolved into a “very fluid scene.” Chief Walsh, who lived nearby, breached the apartment door, according to the report, and another officer busted out the windows to a side bedroom where they saw Hagerty.
Hagerty then rushed Walsh with the knife, police allege, and stabbed him in the abdomen, breaking the blade.
