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Two Eastern Massachusetts men, Colin James Webb, of Reading, and Hernan Aybar Romero, of Lawrence, were arrested in the past week for assaulting Massachusetts State Troopers in two unrelated events, according to the Massachusetts State Police.
On Wednesday, July 5, a motorcyclist, later identified as Webb, attempted to run over a trooper who was on foot on the I-95 Exit 57 off-ramp in Wakefield.
The trooper had seen Webb driving erratically and approached him, ordering him to turn off the motorcycle and dismount.
Webb refused to comply, at one point turning the bike’s engine on after it had been shut off, and drove forward with the trooper in front of the bike.
The trooper was able to move out of the way and narrowly avoided being hit by a pickup truck passing through the intersection.
Two days later, Webb was arrested by state troopers and members of the State Police Detective Unit.
He was charged with the following:
- Assault and battery on a police officer
- Assault with a dangerous weapon
- Refusing to identify himself to police
- Negligent operation of a motor vehicle
- Number plate violation
- Speeding
- Failure to stop/yield at traffic signals
- Marked lanes violation
- Failure to yield at an intersection
- Breakdown lane violation
- Missing number plate
- Failure to stop for police
On Friday, July 7, a man with four outstanding warrants also violently attacked a state trooper.
The man, later determined to be Aybar Romero, was stopped by a trooper for motor vehicle violations.
The trooper determined that Aybar Romero had multiple warrants for his arrest, including charges of trafficking in heroin, morphine, opium, and fentanyl.
Aybar Romero exited his vehicle but became violent and assaulted the trooper as he was being put into handcuffs. He got back into his car and sped away.
The trooper was taken to Lowell General Hospital, where he was treated and later released.
After an "exhaustive" investigation, Aybar Romero was tracked to an apartment in the town of Lawrence and arrested on Tuesday, July 11.
Aybar Romero is being held pending arraignment on the following charges, in addition to his outstanding warrants:
- Assault and battery on a police officer
- Assault with a dangerous weapon
- Resisting arrest
- Malicious destruction of property over $1,200
- Refusing to identify himself to police
- Unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle
- Attaching plates
- Operating with a suspended/revoked registration
- Operating an uninsured motor vehicle
- No inspection sticker
“These incidents were brazen, and deliberately violent assaults perpetrated by motivated offenders on public servants who were engaged in their duties to protect our roads, our communities, our citizens, and our visitors,” said Colonel John Mawn Jr., Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police. “We work very hard to ensure that violence directed against any victim – police officer or civilian – is answered with a swift and thorough response, and that was exactly what was done in these two investigations.”
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