[MA] Firefighter Abron - "spirited argument" or battery & assault

...A veteran Boston firefighter yesterday pleaded not guilty to charges that he beat his girlfriend before assaulting police and resisting arrest in an early-morning domestic attack that the alleged victim says never happened...

Firefighter pleads not guilty in assault
Suspect allegedly fought 2 officers
Boston Globe
By Michael Naughton and Martin Finucane
March 25, 2008
A veteran Boston firefighter pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of assaulting two police officers during a violent confrontation in which they allegedly tried to stop him from attacking his girlfriend. According to the Boston police report, the following events took place. Police officers found Wayne Abron, 41, a 17-year veteran of the Fire Department, "violently shaking" his girlfriend and screaming in her face in the backyard of his Dorchester home just before 2 a.m. Sunday. When the officers tried to separate Abron and his girlfriend, he hit one of the officers with his elbow, threw punches, and tried to put one officer in a headlock, the report said. The officers subdued and arrested Abron after using pepper spray... The girlfriend was uncooperative and declined police and medical services, the report said. Abron had one active restraining order and several previous orders against him, but none was taken out by his girlfriend, according to the police report. Abron pleaded not guilty to two counts of assault and battery on a police officer, assault and battery, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. He posted $400 bail and was ordered not to have contact with the officers, according to the district attorney's office. A Fire Department spokesman said Abron was placed on paid administrative leave. He said Abron was assigned to Engine 7 in the Back Bay... Abron is due in court April 23. [Full article here]

Veteran jake claims police beat him up
Boston Herald
By Jessica Van Sack
March 25, 2008
A veteran Boston firefighter yesterday pleaded not guilty to charges that he beat his girlfriend before assaulting police and resisting arrest in an early-morning domestic attack that the alleged victim says never happened. Police said a combative Wayne Abron, 41, was spewing expletives and had to be "pulled off" his girlfriend, Edwinna Wynn, in a Dorchester yard early yesterday morning. Abron then took swings at the cops, police said, prompting a call for backup. But Wynn disputed that account... Wynn, 36, said she tried to calm the officers when they arrived, but they immediately charged at Abron. "They never asked any questions. They never asked me, 'Did I need any help? Did I need any assistance... If I was in such distress, then why did they never offer me any services?" Police say a call came in reporting a man beating a woman in a yard at 87 Howard Ave., the home of Abron's mother... "Upon arrival, officers heard a man yelling 'I'm gonna (expletive) you up,'... Despite suspect's violent struggle, officers did bring suspect to the ground," the report states, adding that Abron put an officer into a headlock and that family members disregarded officers' orders to stay back. "Never happened," said Wynn, an outreach worker for a local nonprofit who said she will graduate from Wheelock College this year with a degree in social work. Wynn and Abron, who live together in Mattapan, said they were having a "spirited argument" about how to make ends meet. They speculated that a neighbor must have called the police. Abron's mother, Fannie Abron, a retired BPD dispatcher, said she was with her son and his girlfriend during their argument and "there was no physical contact." She said she saw an officer sit on her son and slam his head repeatedly into the ground until "he went limp."... Abron, a 17-year veteran of the BFD, said he blacked out, and that a doctor diagnosed him with an eye socket injury, a thumb sprain and facial contusions. "I was pepper-sprayed. I remember being beaten from behind and I don't remember anything from the time I was at my mom's til the time I woke up in the hospital," Abron said. Police reports state Abron has an active restraining order against him. Abron said he and a former girlfriend filed restraining orders against each other 14 years ago but he insisted neither is active. The Suffolk District Attorney's Office declined to comment, and the BPD released a statement saying: "The BPD investigates any and all complaints that are formally filed regarding officer misconduct." Abron said he has not filed a formal complaint but has retained counsel. [Full article here]