Police searching for bike path thugs

Two men linked to bike path assault and armed robbery in same night

By Jack Nicas

Police are searching for two men who allegedly attacked a Somerville man on the community bike path Thursday evening. According to police, the victim ignored the men's insults and requests for money until being struck in the head from behind. The victim then ran until he was caught behind Rite-Aid pharmacy and assaulted again, damaging his glasses, police said.

Eventually the victim broke free and fled to the Davis Square T station where his girlfriend was waiting. The two took shelter there and called the police, while the suspects allegedly hovered outside taunting the victim, police said.

Police Sergeant Gerald Reardon said arrests could not be immediately made on a simple assault, but Detective David Lyons did detain two suspects at the scene, Matthew Galvin and Steven O'Brien, and requested a warrant for their arrest.

The victim posted a narrative of the incident Friday morning on the community message board Davis Square LiveJournal. Over 100 comments poured in over the course of the day, linking the alleged assailants with a gang of teenagers known to loiter in the Davis Square Plaza and other criminal activity occurring Thursday night.

An armed robbery on Winslow Avenue reported 51 minutes earlier bears striking similarities to the assault, particularly in the proximity of the two events in location and time and the descriptions of the alleged assailants. According to police, the victim of the armed robbery was approached by three individuals, one on bike, and asked for a dollar. The victim said he did not have any money and walked away until surrounded again by the three individuals, police said.

The two men on foot match the descriptions of Galvin and O'Brien in police reports and the assault victim's LiveJournal post. Police reported Galvin is a 5-foot-10-inch white male who was wearing plaid shorts and a white shirt and O'Brien is a white male wearing a green Celtics shirt. The assault victim corroborated that O'Brien was a shorter, heavier white male wearing a green Celtics shirt. According to police reports, the two on-foot suspects in the armed robbery were “a white male, approximately [5 feet 10 inches] in height, having a thin build and wearing shorts… [and] a white male wearing a green shirt, having black hair, approximately [5 feet 9 inches] in height and having a heavy set build.”

According to police, the on-foot suspect matching the description of Galvin “wrapped his arms around the victim's neck, brought him to the ground and began punching him in the head.” The suspect matching the description of O'Brien then “began rummaging through the victim's pockets and took an Apple iPhone.” During the robbery, the suspects were quoted as saying “You want to get stabbed” and “You want to get shot,” police said.

In the assault victim's LiveJournal post, he wrote that the responding officer to his assault “said about 20 minutes before I was harassed, there was another attack by what appeared to be the same group of thugs further down the path towards Minuteman where a person was told 'would you rather be stabbed or shot?' They stole his iPhone.”

Officer Maryann Manfra later arrested the third suspect on bike after matching him to a photograph the victim was able to provide to the police from the “MySpace” website. The armed robbery victim, who is a minor, told police he recognized the suspect on bike, who is also a minor, as a friend of his Somerville High School classmates and “an individual who he frequently saw hanging out in Davis Square,” police said.

Three other possibly linked incidents in the Davis Square area were called into police Thursday between the hours of 7:40 and 9:50 p.m. Officers responded to a large group drinking and harassing people on the bike path at 7:40 p.m., 20 minutes after the armed robbery and a half-hour prior to the assault. There were also two fights reported on Chester Street outside of Redbones at 9:08 and 9:49 p.m. A comment to the assault victim's LiveJournal post stated a white male in a Celtics shirt was involved in a fight outside of Redbones.

Somerville Police Crime Analyst Frank Bates said he doesn't see any connection with the crimes or any larger trend in Davis Square crime. “For a trend or pattern to occur, it has to be more than three cases to pop up in a short period of time,” he said.

The assault victim expanded upon the assault in his LiveJournal post; he wrote that after describing his attackers to police, the officers departed to investigate the bike path. He wrote he and his girlfriend then went across the street to Tedeschi's, where they reportedly saw the assailants again. The victim wrote he hid in the back of the store as Galvin came in and had a long chat with the store's clerk. The victim alleged Galvin then slid a “wad of cash” across the counter to the clerk.

Police then appeared again and were able to detain Galvin, the victim wrote. However, the store clerk reportedly denied knowing the group of teenagers.

The victim said in an email that he was unwilling to discuss the incident until he knew if or when the suspects would be prosecuted. He said he had been in touch with the police, “and it appears they are building a case against these guys.”

Somerville resident Delilah Webb said she was in the community garden on the bike path Thursday evening and believes she observed the same group causing problems. She said a male matching the description of Galvin was initiating fights with friends and taking their bikes; when an elderly woman Webb was with asked the boys to watch their language, Webb said Galvin, who was clearly intoxicated, “started yelling right back.”

Detective Lyons' request for a warrant was approved by the Somerville District Court on Monday and it charges Galvin and O'Brien with attempting to commit a crime. Reardon said there is an active investigation to find the two suspects.

Comments

[Ron Newman]

Thank you very much for publishing this article.

One question for JN and the rest of the News staff: what is the purpose of the "he said" and "garden" links? They don't seem to point to anything especially relevant that I can see.

[Kate]

Help me, here; why haven't these 2 been arrested, yet? Something doesn't add up. How many witnesses does it take. Also, what area, exactly, is called 'Davis Square Plaza', and where is Tedeschi's? I'm lost.

[Somerville n00b]

I suppose Galvin and O'Brien are the latest Somerville heroes, oppressed victims of gentrification and punishers of iPhone carrying yuppies? Wouldn't you agree, Matt McLaughlin?

[Trey Shacksit]

I think that a "Take Back the Path" movement is in order. Community involvement on a grand scale is probably going to be more effective than police involvement (not to put down the SPD, but I'm sure they're pressed as it is). Perhaps community involvement can be an accompaniment to SPD efforts. This is a nice demonstration of networking technology bringing information to the people and quick.

[Born&Raised]

Are these punks even from Somerville? If I found the correct losers on Myspace, one is from Arlington and the lives in Medford. Here is a comment that Galvin leaves O'Brien on his Myspace :

May 31 2008 10:56 AM
STEVEN WHERE U AT KID??? U TRYIN TO CHILL I NEED MONEY NIGGA, LETS ROBB SUM NIGGAS

Nice kids huh?

[BS]

Doesn't the store have surveillance video? In today's world, I would think so.

So, let me get this straight, the attacks are unrelated why, because there were not three together. Give me a break. Is this actually this clowns job. They sound like the same persons, they are all in the same vicinity, same MO, sound like the same people to me. Just another "cover it under the rug" crime so Somerville looks like a safe place to live. I think not. What a joke. IMO, it sounds like iPhones should not be used in public unless you want to be bashed over the head. What a crazy world.

[somebody]

scary! I'm sure once they are prosecuted, we'll here about how they are "good kids", etc.

[Ron Newman]

Tedeschi's is the former Store 24.

[Ron Newman]

By the way, if anyone wants to read the original LiveJournal post and the long discussion that followed, go to:

http://community.livejournal.com/davis_square/1401489.html

[somebody]

n00b: I was thinking the same thing, but I wrote a much tamer comment. ;-)

[JPM]

I hope they try and mug me so I can kick their asses.

[bike path]

I just heard that both obrien and galvin were arrested at the begining of the week. is this true?

[Imux]

It was just a couple of punks - who ultimately will get the s$%# kicked out of them and/or get in deeper trouble then they ever bargained for down the road. The cops couldn't even press charges, so unless the SPD has gotten a lot softer since I was a kid (when they'd give you a forearm shiver for just looking at them strange) this was not a major crime (as it has been blown out to be) to them. If this story is true then what these punks did was stupid and criminal, but their day will come. It always does.

No one is acknowledging that the underlining issue is that Somerville is becoming more and more a two class city. We have the progressives (with money) in Davis/Union versus the middle/working class (struggling). Wait until the illegals figure out where the people with the real money live (Davis and W. Somerville). When that happens you won't have amatuers preying on innocents in Davis, but hardcore gangbangers.

[Howie Carr]

I’d have to agree with Imux on part of this. This whole story is blown way out. My son was robed at knife point on the bike path last year and nobody gave a care. There are a lot of things like this that happen in Somerville, but nobody seems to cares about until it ends up being some yuppie. There have been drive bys, stabbings, robberies and shots fired in Somerville all summer (in other parts of the city), and just because this was a yuppie near Davis sq it’s now a big deal. These types of things happen all the time, most of the time it’s not even reported. Step outside your Davis sq bubble, and you’ll see there is a lot more to Somerville then the Davis area. Try drinking at Khourys. The point of this all is, enjoys the city living until the city living hits you in the face, you want to live here well you just came face to face with a real life city issue violence. Welcome to Somerville

[Ron Newman]

Somehow I doubt that the real Howie Carr wrote the above comment.

[Somervillen00b]

LOL. I was shot twice in the abdomen, stabbed in the eye, and raped three time on the bike path. But you did not hear me whine. I took it like a man. Howie Carr and Imux are the real men and they are right, as usual. We should all go on with our own life and stop whining!!!

[The Patriot]

Newman worries about syntax, Imux sounds like John Edwards with the "two Somervilles," HC thinks other crimes were ignored so this one is no more important, and the crime analyst doesn't see a trend, and a zillion id's
don't equal an arrest. Well, at least
we don't have to worry about "our' IQ's being stolen....even amateur thieves can see the forest from the trees....how about some surveillance cameras on the bike path, or would it be unfair to rob the victims, and their perps, of their privacy during an intimate muggings.

[deal with it newbies]

It is so fitting that there is an army of bloggers ready to talk tough about "taking back the trail," but when this guy needed help, no one could get involved. People like Noob would watch someone die rather than get involved. If there were any real Somerville people left in West Somerville, they would have helped this victim. And if they were the victim, they would have fought these two UNARMED snots, or at least not run away like a woman.

[Somerville n00b]

Oh hell, no! I'm 6'6" and I'm quite muscular and in good shape. I doubt those punks would have messed with me in the first place, since they are just little meth cowards. I wish I had been there and I wish they had given me the excuse to exercise some self-defense...

[Howie Carr]

The post above is on point. With all this talk of talking back the path, and the rest of the blah blah blah. I can’t help, but to believe that the same people posting on the Somerville news and the bloggers of the world are the same people who wouldn’t get involved. Yuppies live in their own little world, and would rather save a tree, or the whales before stepping in and helping an other human in trouble.The moon bats need to move to Arlington where they belong.

[fatnoob]

Whatever Noob. I've seen your fat, balding ass around town. Don't think we don't know who you are. And I don't care if you're the Governor of California, you wouldn't help a crippled crab a crutch.

[JPM]

It's a shame. Often the people trying to break up a situation are the ones that end up getting stabbed.......

[The Bunk]

A man was shot in the face in friday night in Somerville, but it didn't happen near Davis sq. Dose anyobdy still want to write about it?

[Ron Newman]

I would certainly like to hear about this. Please tell us more.

[The Bunk]

well Newman, a man was shot in the face friday night in Somerville.

Noob take your so called muscular 6'6" and post an ad on Craigslist maybe you'll find someone. Unless you write comments while at the gym, I'm sure you're a fat ass spends most of your free time on the computer looking up porn.
The BUNK

[Ron Newman]

You said that already. Where did it happen? Did you see it?

[Somervillen00b]

In other news... Nobody was shot in the face on Friday night.

[get off your]

You sure n00b? Why don't you check the cities other paper. Everett man shot in face on Glen st refuses to talk to police.

[here you go]

Nice safe city we have here huh.

A short time later, a 23-year-old Everett man showed up at the emergency room at Somerville Hospital with a gunshot wound to the face, Reardon said.
Police believe he was shot on Glen Street.

On Aug. 5, Police arrested Rutilio Portillo, a 24-year-old MS-13 gang member, with a gun on Glen Street as he tried to run away for the site of a suspected shooting nearby.

As long as it's not happen in Davis right? The rich get richer the poor get poorer, and this is what happens in a city that holds two very different worlds.

[Tricky]

There you go. You're missing an important part of the equation that separates this from the Davis square incident: "An Everett man was shot in the face in East Somerville Friday night **but is refusing to give police any details of the gun crime.**"

[Ron Newman]

And the Davis Square assault victim also initially did not want to talk to the police, fearing retaliation from the perps. Other bloggers persuaded him to change his mind.

[The Bunk]

Newman, there is a very big difference between the guy on the bike path getting beat up (no weapons involved)and the man shot on Glen st. Most likely the Everett man refused to talk to police because (a) he is a gang member (b) he will handle his situation on his own or (c) he has his own problems with police. The guy robbed on the bike path wrote a blog as soon as he could, and called the police himself. Big difference Newman.

[hay]

Hay Bunk, the man on the bike path wasn't robbed, he only got hit a couple of times by two unarmed teens.

[Somervillen00b]

Hay, explain that to the judge. Nice try.

[Yorktown Street]

Unfortunately, poor people tend to get robbed by other poor people and immigrants tend to get robbed by other immigrants. Criminals find it easiest to work where they live. Sociologists have known this for decades.

[Tricky]

Yorktown - you mean Galvin and O'Brien are really yuppies?! Quick, call the Social Register!

[SICKofTHEbull]

It's all he said/he said!! I understand this guys frustration, but move on! Take back the path!! GREAT!!!