Lowell, MA Officer Killed in Crash Off Duty by Drunk Driver

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FROM: THE LOWELL SUN- Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell police officer killed in crash
Struck on motorcycle by alleged drunk driver while off duty
By Robert Mills, rmills@lowellsun.com
Updated: 09/12/2010 08:41:41 AM EDT


Lowell Officer Patrick Johnson ... "an exemplary police officer, a good father, a good son"

Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our MyCapture site. LOWELL -- Officer Patrick "P.J." Johnson worked on the Police Department's community-response unit, rushing to shootings and robberies, patrolling high-crime parts of the city, never trying to draw attention to himself.

Johnson, 31, was quiet, a veteran of the Marine Corps. He was the married father of an infant daughter and 3-year-old son.

He was killed early yesterday morning when an alleged drunken driver ran a stop sign on Foster Street and struck Johnson's motorcycle on Pawtucket Boulevard, police said.

Johnson was off duty, driving inbound on Pawtucket Boulevard at 12:23 a.m., when he was struck by a vehicle driven by Theary Chan, 26, of Lowell.

The officers who responded to the crash were the same men and

A memorial at the crash scene on Pawtucket Boulevard. SUN / ROBERT MILLS

Sun staff photos can be ordered by visiting our MyCapture site. women Johnson worked alongside most nights; officers from the same shift, working in a neighborhood Johnson often patrolled.
They found an open container of alcohol in Chan's vehicle, according to police.

"It was a very, very difficult set of circumstances we had to deal with," Police Superintendent Kenneth Lavallee said yesterday.

Johnson was thrown from his motorcycle. He was rushed to Lowell General Hospital as firefighters, EMTs and paramedics fought to keep him alive. He was pronounced dead a short time later.

Chan was taken to the same hospital, where he was treated, released and then arrested. He is charged with motor-vehicle homicide while operating under the influence of alcohol, failure to stop at a stop sign and having an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle.
Chan was still being held. He will be arraigned tomorrow in Lowell District Court.

Johnson is the latest of several police officers statewide to be killed by motorists accused of driving drunk.

State Police Sgt. Douglas Weddleton was struck and killed by an allegedly drunken driver while on duty in Mansfield on June 18.

"When you drink and drive and you run a stop sign, you are endangering the public, both police officers and nonpolice officers alike," Lavallee said. "People should understand how dangerous this is."

Johnson, a 1997 Lowell High School graduate, served four years in the Marines, then joined Lowell police in 2004, hired by then-Superintendent Edward Davis. Lavallee said Davis was the first person to call with condolences early yesterday morning.

Johnson was married to Lindsey Johnson and was the son of Lowell City Clerk Richard Johnson. His family could not be reached for comment last night.

Johnson was reserved, unassuming, but had earned the respect of colleagues, according to Lavallee.

"He truly was a gentleman, an exemplary police officer, a good father, a good son and a good policeman," Lavallee said. "We're going to miss him a great deal in the Lowell Police Department."

Since 2008, Johnson had served in the community-response unit, also known as the gang unit, and often referred to in police radio broadcasts simply as "response."

He spent those years with his partner, Officer James Matos, another quiet officer. The two also served on the department's motorcycle unit, wearing the unit's red and black patches on their arms.

Both officers were given a day off, with pay, as part of a commendation for a gun arrest on Jan. 23.

Johnson and Matos were on patrol when they stopped a car on Liberty Street because they recognized the driver and suspected his license was suspended. A passenger was making suspicious movements, and Matos shined a flashlight into the car and saw what appeared to be a gun.

Johnson and Matos drew their guns and ordered the passenger out of the car, soon finding a fully-loaded .25-caliber handgun, according to the commendation.

The passenger, Giovanni Ramos-Souza, had previously faced firearms charges and was awaiting trial on charges he shot up a car on Merrimack Street a year before.

"Due to their diligence, Officers Matos and Johnson were able to arrest a dangerous criminal and remove an illegal firearm from the street," Lavallee wrote in the commendation. "Their actions undoubtedly prevented future violent criminal activity by the suspect."

The commendation notes Johnson and Matos had taken another handgun off the streets just a few weeks before.

Two months later, they would get yet another one, seizing a 9mm semi-automatic during a traffic stop on Fletcher Street in March, just as repeated incidents of gunfire had been plaguing the neighborhood.

Those guns were among many Johnson and Matos seized together, usually without commendations, or even getting their names in the paper.

Johnson also received a commendation for an Oct. 18, 2005, incident in which he single-handedly arrested a suspect in an attempted robbery of a grocery store and successful bank robbery.

The two incidents had occurred minutes apart, when a suspect used a syringe in a failed attempt to rob Market Basket on Fletcher Street, and then a successful robbery of Bank of America on Plain Street.

Two hours later, Johnson spotted the suspect vehicle on Mammoth Road, and calmly made an arrest, according to a commendation written by Davis. The robber had gotten $3,500 from Bank of America.

People who live at Pawtucket Boulevard and Foster Street said there is a crash there almost every night, and that they have long told the city stop signs should be put up on Pawtucket Boulevard, making the intersection a four-way stop.

"I can't stand looking out the windows because of all this tragedy every day," said a woman who lives near the scene.

Another neighbor said there were often crashes at Pawtucket Boulevard and Stevens Street, just a few hundred yards away, until years ago when the intersection was made a four-way stop.

Johnson's fellow officers remained on patrol last night, all wearing a black band across their badges. Messages from some of them, signed with first names only, were written on bands of duct tape that held two bouquets of flowers to a telephone pole at the crash site.

Lavallee said funeral arrangements are in progress.

"It's the most difficult aspect of law enforcement when one of us is dealing with a member of the family, so to speak," Lavallee said, choking up at times. "It is very hard for many members of this organization to deal with this, but this department is strong, and this department has great officers."

"They are handling this well, but finding it difficult."



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