Springfield fugitive arrested in Ludlow after massive search in Northampton
1
2
3
4
NORTHAMPTON - A Springfield man who fled when police attempted to arrest him on a warrant Tuesday morning on Pleasant Street in Northampton was apprehended in Ludlow after eluding helicopter, canine and other state and local police units for more than eight hours.
State Trooper Thomas Murphy, a police spokesman in Framingham, said Christian Barbee, 26, of Springfield, was arrested at a house on Kirkland Avenue in Ludlow at 8 p.m. State police, members of the U.S. Marshal's Task Force and the Ludlow and Holyoke Police departments were involved in his capture.
A daylong search for Barbee involved dozens of state and local police swarming the Meadows section of Northampton.
Murphy said Barbee had violated a probation order issued by the Palmer District Court. He was wanted on felony charges of kidnapping, assault to rape, witness intimidation, violation of an abuse prevention order and threatening to commit a crime.
At around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Barbee was on his way to the Holyoke Police Department for processing. Murphy said he would appear in Holyoke District Court today.
Tuesday's search on land and by air began shortly after 10:30 a.m. in Northampton. Members of the state police fugitive unit were out serving arrest warrants as they routinely do, when Barbee fled on Pleasant Street,
"They went to grab him and he took off," Trooper Todd Nolan, another state police spokesman, said earlier. "They flooded the area with assets."
Nolan said more than 20 officers were dispatched to search for Barbee. In addition to the fugitive unit, they included members of the state police air wing and the canine unit, as well as troopers from the Northampton state police barracks and officers with the Northampton Police Department.
Nolan said there are four or five fugitive units covering the state. The one that was out Tuesday in Northampton is based in Framingham.
The search for Barbee in Northampton was centered around the Williams Street area and in agricultural fields on both sides of Interstate Route 91, referred to as the Meadows section of the city. Police said the public was not in danger during the search.
Students at Bridge Street School were kept inside during recess as a precaution, according to an automated call administrators made to parents before the school day ended. PTO cochairwoman Deborah Christakos said the call did not provide details of the police search but informed parents that there had been a security situation in the area.
During the search, a helicopter made passes and hovered in fixed positions over the southern part of the city's downtown. Residents of the area also reported seeing armed police in black flak jackets accompanied by dogs combing fields in the area and searching sheds and barns.
Dora Lewis was counseling a client at her home on Montview Avenue around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday when she heard a helicopter "looping around seven or eight times.
"It was a tad nerve-racking," said Lewis, who provides spiritual counseling to clients. "I could see cop cars going by and one was parked outside the house. I excused myself from the session and got up to lock the door."
Soon afterward, Lewis' husband, Jim Nash, called and told her he had read a report on GazetteNET that police were looking for a fugitive in the area.
Lewis said the noise of the helicopter and the search continued for at least 30 minutes. "I could keep working but it was distracting," she said.
Attorney Madeline Weaver Blanchette was also working at home on Tuesday morning. Her family lives across from Town Farm on Venturers Field Road.
"We can see the levee and they had a bunch of police and dogs out there," Weaver Blanchette said. "They came through our yard and they were looking in people's sheds."
She said she saw police in black sedans and SUVs driving through the neighborhood's narrow streets.
The scene was surreal, Weaver Blanchette said, because "while it looked like such an alarming situation, people were still walking around outside. I asked, 'Should we be in our houses?' but the police didn't seem that concerned."
Weaver Blanchette said this is not the first time the neighborhood has been the site of a police search. Still, Tuesday's activity was "unnerving," she added.
Comments
And he posed no threat??
Yesterday's report said communities had no need to worry about this fugitive.
"He was wanted on felony charges of kidnapping, assault to rape, witness intimidation, violation of an abuse prevention order and threatening to commit a crime."
I'd say that's pretty threatening! Way to reassure the community. Sheesh.