Old Dover Focuses in on Public Safety in Wake of Attack

By Seth Daniel

After a brutal, daylight attack of a woman on Harrison Avenue in late July, the Old Dover Neighborhood Association called for a bolstering of its Safety and Security Committee at its first meeting of the season on Tuesday, Sept. 20, and for members of that Committee to begin patrolling the neighborhood.

President Ken Smith said the Board of Old Dover has decided to make a push for more members to get involved in the Committee, bolstering its ranks, and for those residents to try unique an innovative things, including wearing orange vests and doing what would be like walking patrols of the neighborhood.

“I think presence is one of the keys,” Smith said. “The more people are out and about, and with the Police force having tight budgets and scant resources, having people come in the neighborhood and walk the neighborhood at different hours would go a long way. The Chinatown Association actually wears orange vests and walks around their neighborhood on evenings and weekends. We would like the Safety and Security Committee to try something similar, to walk around with colored vests or something like that…First, we need people to join the Safety and Security Committee. That’s huge.”

The call came after a horrific morning attack occurred on a woman on Harrison Avenue on July 22.

In that attack, a man from the Pine Street Inn watched the woman from across the street as she walked out of her building (at GTI Properties) and down the street. All of the sudden, the man ran across the street and attacked the woman, bludgeoning and kicking her in full view of many people.

Several people heard her calls for help and did nothing, watching her get pummeled for a bit and then moving on. One woman from Milton, passing by in her car, saw the attack and stopped. She corralled the victim and got her into her car before the attacker came and tried to force open her car doors.

She rushed the woman to Tufts Medical Center where she was treated for injuries.

The man was sent to Bridgewater Psychiatric Hospital, where he is being kept for six months.

Mario Nicosia, of GTI Properties and a member of Old Dover, said it was a very bad situation that his company’s video cameras caught on tape. He said there was good and bad in the reactions, and more neighborhood cohesiveness on safety and security might go a long way.

“The very positive part of this is that the woman from Milton stopped her car and actually helped,” he said. “The victim was on the ground getting kicked and punched and she actually helped her get up and get way. She did a very brave and heroic thing. The negative part is there were many people who heard the victim yell, ‘Help, help, help, get the police,’ and they did nothing. A young man walked right by with a yoga mat and saw this and did nothing. The real estate office right where she got attacked had four or five guys inside who saw this and did nothing.”

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