Actually, I didn't even have to leave the house to do my amateur search for Kenneth Howe, the man who died in custody at the Andover State Police station Wednesday night. It was first reported that he lived in Webster, but that proved to be incorrect. Subsequent reports say he's from Worcester. So far, though, even Mr. Howe's hometown daily newspaper hasn't figured out where he comes from.
But when I did a search of the T&G's own website for "Kenneth Howe" just now, I came up with this page from November 8, 2007. The name is the ninth in the list under cases that came before Judge Thomas F. Sullivan Jr. To wit: "Kenneth Howe, 43, of 1 Hartshorn Ave., Worcester, charged with driving with a suspended license (subsequent offense), fined $875, $50 victim witness fee; and vehicle equipment violation, found responsible, filed."
The name pops up again a year earlier in this article from November 17, 2006. In this story, they say, "Oct. 13: Worcester undercover officers arrested Kenneth Howe, 42, when he allegedly tried to leave the pub when the officers entered. He was stopped and searched. Police said they found six bags of cocaine, each weighing 1 gram, in his possession. He was charged with possession of cocaine."
That October 13th story had already been covered in an article from October 15, 2006, which gives even more detail on this particular Kenneth Howe:
"An hour later, Officers Carmody and Panarello and Officer Carmelo Oquendo responded to the Green Island Pub, 107 Millbury St., on a report of a man inside selling cocaine. The officers were given a description of the man and found a man fitting the description.
"Kenneth Howe, 42, 282 Hamilton St., Apt. 2, allegedly tried to leave the pub when the officers entered but was stopped and searched. Police said they found six bags of cocaine, each weighing a gram, in his possession.
"He was charged with possession of cocaine."
So, really, if the professional news media can't figure out exactly who this guy is who died in custody at the Andover State Police station on Wednesday night, and yet, I can find all that on the local paper's own website in a matter of minutes, then what possible justification can ANY of the so-called professional media covering this story have in paying ANY of their own so-called "professional journalists"?
Update(11am): Oh look! Even more!
4/12/06, 2nd name under Judge Paul A. Losapio: "Kenneth R. Howe, 42, of 97 Millbury St., Worcester, charged with trespassing, malicious destruction of property valued at over $250 and breaking and entering with the intent to commit a misdemeanor, continued to May 2."
8/2/06, 1st name under Judge David P. Despotopulos: "Kenneth R. Howe, 42, of 282 Hamilton St., Worcester, charged with two counts of assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace, dismissed."
12/12/06, 1st name under Judge Arthur F. Haley III: "Kenneth R. Howe, 42, of 282 Hamilton St., Worcester, charged with two counts of assault and battery on a police officer, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, two counts of resisting arrest, possession of marijuana, driving with a suspended license, failing to stop for police, and speeding, continued to Jan. 18."
10/24/07, 3rd name under Judge David Ricciardone: "Kenneth R. Howe, 43, of 9 Dover St., Worcester, charged with two counts of assault and battery on a police officer, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and resisting arrest, dismissed."
8/4/08, 2nd name under Judge Paul L. McGill: "Kenneth R. Howe, 44, of 1 Hartshorn Ave., Worcester, charged with driving with a suspended registration, failing to stop for police, failing to signal, driving negligently, marked lanes violation, and possession of marijuana (subsequent offense), continued to Aug. 15."
8/19/08, 3rd name under Judge Paul L. McGill: "Kenneth R. Howe, 44, of 1 Hartshorn Ave., Worcester, charged with driving with a suspended registration, failing to stop for police, failing to signal, negligent driving, marked lanes violation, continued to Sept. 12."
10/22/08, 4th name under Judge Andrew M. D’Angelo: "Kenneth R. Howe, 44, of 1 Hartshorn Ave., Worcester, charged with driving negligently, sentenced to 60 days in the House of Correction, suspended for one year; possession of marijuana (subsequent offense), placed on probation for one year, ordered to remain drug free and to submit to random drug tests, $50 victim witness fee; failing to stop for police, filed with a guilty finding; failing to signal and marked lanes violation, found responsible, filed; and driving with a suspended registration, dismissed."
It's difficult to imagine how many Kenneth Howes there may be who are all the same age, who all live in Worcester, all of whom smoke pot, AND all of whom might have such a well-documented history of running from the police.
Of course, on the other hand, there's a whole 'nother story to be found percolating up from anonymous-ville in the comments to the T&G's minimal coverage of this whole thing on Saturday.
One commenter has posted that this guy was beaten to death by a dozen state troopers... right there on the scene that night at the side of the road! I mean, there are commenters claiming to know the deceased, and others claiming to know all kinds of other very "newsworthy" information about who the deceased really is... yet the T&G's "professional journalists" persist in this reportage that completely omits just about everything!
It's just incredible to me that our only local daily hasn't even gotten down to who the guy is yet, four days after the incident actually happened.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
This one really, really disturbs me. It's the post by someone who said they were *in the car* who says it did not happen that way, that he never jumped out the window- and that WITNESSES WERE ORDERED TO LOOK AWAY, that rings true to me.
Can you really picture someone jumping out the window of a car and punching a state trooper? That sounds very trumped up to me.
This one stinks to high heaven. Something is very, very wrong here.
-Heyduke
And another thing...
"a state police trooper saw Mr. Howe “making furtive movements,” and another passenger in the car told police Mr. Howe had lit a marijuana cigarette a short time before and was trying to extinguish it."
Every single time, every one, that I have ever heard the excuse that a guy was “making furtive movements", it has always meant that the cops badly f'ed up, and are trying to come up with something, anything, to justify what happened. When it boils down to "“making furtive movements,”, it means they have no other thing to say. It's the most vague, nebulous phrase ever.
And do you really think, really think when you stop to reflect that- anyone who was stopped and detained by state troopers would actually say, "Oh, yeah we just lit a joint"? C'mon.
-Heyduke
Comments on the T&G's website are typically "big grain of salt" territory. I don't think it's possible to set in stone the "truth" of these accounts on either side. Only the Medical Examiner's report can shed any definitive light on how this guy died.
What I'm focused on here, though, is the T&G's bizarre lack of reported details, especially the complete lack of who, exactly, the victim is. It's an especially gaping omission when all the archived records of (apparently) this same guy are so accessible.
Can anyone actually be surprised by the fact that the Telegram no longer has ANY institutional memory, nor reporters with enough energy to actually check their own paper's morgue???
Sutner jumped the shark with his endless Sizzler stories, Tom Caywood is too busy crusading against cops, paramedics and city officials to actually do any real reporting and the paper's best reporters either took buyouts or moved to the business desk.
It IS odd, Jeff. Seems to me this has the potential to be a really big story- and the T&G is M.I.A. But then again, I really don't know to what extent there really is a T&G anymore. I get the idea that it's really a bare-bones skeleton crew, pretending it's a real newspaper, waiting to be sold. That the only reporters left aren't really reporters. Just interns, which is a polite way to say, "kids who work for free", and maybe one "editor", cutting and pasting wire stories.
-Heyduke
Wow!
Most papers made Mr. Howe look like he was a person just smoking a joint.
He has quite a colorful history-I can not think that after several times of hitting a cop this time he did not.
Thank you for the insight!
Post a Comment