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In a harrowing incident on Saturday, a mental health crisis call in Boston took a violent turn when a man wielding a sword attacked a clinician and stabbed a police officer. This occurred during a co-response call, part of Boston’s initiative to incorporate mental health professionals into emergency situations traditionally managed by police. Responders spent nearly 40 minutes attempting to de-escalate the situation before the confrontation intensified.
Boston employs a co-response model that teams police officers with mental health clinicians for specific 911 calls, diverting some cases from a purely police response. This approach was in effect when officers were dispatched to Hemenway Street around 10:45 a.m. The call was initiated by a man claiming that four armed individuals were threatening him outside his apartment, urgently requesting assistance.
Upon arrival, officers found no evidence of individuals outside the apartment. They engaged in conversation with the caller through his closed door, striving to evaluate the situation inside and ascertain if there was any imminent danger to others in the vicinity. As tensions rose, emergency medical services and a clinician were brought in, aligning with the city’s structured response to such crises.
For approximately 35 to 45 minutes, the EMS team and clinician communicated with the man, recognizing signs of an acute mental health crisis. Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox explained that the responders were focused on maintaining engagement with the individual, encouraging him to seek the necessary help.
Then, the door opened.
Then the door opened.
“As they asked the individual to begin the process of maybe coming up and getting the attention they needed, the individual immediately opened the door and struck both the clinician and an officer who was outside the door,” Cox said. “He was armed with some type of sword, striking… the officer in the arm, knocking at least the EMS clinician to the ground.”
Police said the man stabbed an officer in the arm and knocked the clinician to the ground before other officers used a Taser and a firearm to stop him as the confrontation unfolded just outside the apartment doorway. EMS treated the suspect at the scene before transporting him to a nearby hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
The officer received a tourniquet at the scene before being transported to the hospital. Several officers and two EMS clinicians were also treated for non-life-threatening injuries following the encounter inside the apartment, according to Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden, who confirmed multiple responders were hurt during the incident.
Boston EMS addressed the attack directly.
“Members of Boston EMS show up to save lives — not to be assaulted. No one should face violence for simply doing their job.”
Boston officials have promoted the co-response model as a way to route people in crisis toward treatment instead of arrest or emergency room intake, particularly in situations initially assessed as nonviolent or behavioral health-related calls, describing it as a partnership between police and mental health workers on calls involving public safety risk and designed to connect individuals with care instead of the criminal justice system.
The approach grew out of policy changes pushed in 2020, when Boston leaders, including then-City Councilor Michelle Wu, backed efforts to divert certain calls away from police and reduce the department’s budget following the George Floyd protests.
Boston built this model to send clinicians into calls like this instead of relying on police. After roughly 40 minutes of trying to defuse the situation, the clinician sent in to handle the call took the first hit when the door opened.
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