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Confrontation with student leads to arrest of woman, 48
By Scott Goldstein, Globe Correspondent | March 18, 2005
The snowballs came flying at the gray Honda. The driver allegedly became angry. A 16-year-old bystander got an eyeful of pepper spray.
It all happened in the parking lot of Andover High School Wednesday afternoon, the latest in a series of altercations between adults and juveniles to end in criminal charges.
At about 2:30 p.m., 48-year-old Marie Needs was picking up her child from school when a group of students began throwing snowballs at her car, said Andover police Lieutenant William MacKenzie. Needs became angry, yelled at them, and sped around the parking lot, MacKenzie said.
''She was driving through the parking lot, and she had got hit with a snowball or two," said Joey Cataldo, a 16-year-old Andover High School junior who by all accounts was not part of the group throwing snowballs.
Needs then parked her Honda, blocking Cataldo's Lincoln Town Car, and went after at least one of the students with a tire iron in her hand, according to Steve O'Connell, a spokesman for Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett. At some point, Needs told police, she was hit with a snowball.
Needs then went back to her car and grabbed her pepper spray, O'Connell said. Cataldo said that was when he asked her to move her car so he could leave for his job at his grandfather's construction company.
''She kept telling me just to not say another word," Cataldo said.
Cataldo said the confrontation lasted about two minutes before she sprayed him in the face.
Cataldo said a friend helped him inside the school to a locker room, where he washed his face and eyes. Police were called and arrested Needs after conducting interviews at the school.
Needs told police that she sprayed Cataldo after he got sarcastic with her and that she felt threatened, according to MacKenzie.
Now Needs faces charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault with a dangerous weapon, and carrying a firearm, the pepper spray, without proper registration, O'Connell said. She pleaded not guilty yesterday to all three charges.
Needs's lawyer, Robert Lewin, declined to comment on the case yesterday and said he advised Needs not to talk to the media.
''I don't try my cases on TV, and I don't try my cases in the press," Lewin said. ''I try them in court."
Andover High School officials did not return calls for comment.
Yesterday afternoon, Cataldo said that his eyes still felt irritated, but that he didn't think his vision was affected.
He denied that he had threatened Needs. ''I'm not sure how she would feel threatened," he said. '' was just standing there."
He said the students had randomly targeted her and that snowball throwing incidents are a common problem at the school.
Other recent allegations of adults assaulting children have come at youth sports events.
Jordan Waldman of Swampscott pleaded not guilty last month to assaulting 8-year-old Cameron Byrne at a Salem-Swampscott Youth Hockey League game in December; Waldman's son and Byrne had been shoving each other on the ice beforehand, witnesses said.
And Valerie Yianacopolus of Wakefield was found guilty this month of assaulting an 11-year-old boy cheering the opposing team at her son's Little League game nearly two years ago. She was sentenced to community service and an anger management program, among other penalties.
Needs, who does not have a criminal record, was released on the condition that she stay away from Cataldo and the high school, and not get into further legal trouble while the case is pending, O'Connell said.
She is scheduled to return to court April 15 for a pretrial hearing.
Confrontation with student leads to arrest of woman, 48
By Scott Goldstein, Globe Correspondent | March 18, 2005
The snowballs came flying at the gray Honda. The driver allegedly became angry. A 16-year-old bystander got an eyeful of pepper spray.
It all happened in the parking lot of Andover High School Wednesday afternoon, the latest in a series of altercations between adults and juveniles to end in criminal charges.
At about 2:30 p.m., 48-year-old Marie Needs was picking up her child from school when a group of students began throwing snowballs at her car, said Andover police Lieutenant William MacKenzie. Needs became angry, yelled at them, and sped around the parking lot, MacKenzie said.
''She was driving through the parking lot, and she had got hit with a snowball or two," said Joey Cataldo, a 16-year-old Andover High School junior who by all accounts was not part of the group throwing snowballs.
Needs then parked her Honda, blocking Cataldo's Lincoln Town Car, and went after at least one of the students with a tire iron in her hand, according to Steve O'Connell, a spokesman for Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett. At some point, Needs told police, she was hit with a snowball.
Needs then went back to her car and grabbed her pepper spray, O'Connell said. Cataldo said that was when he asked her to move her car so he could leave for his job at his grandfather's construction company.
''She kept telling me just to not say another word," Cataldo said.
Cataldo said the confrontation lasted about two minutes before she sprayed him in the face.
Cataldo said a friend helped him inside the school to a locker room, where he washed his face and eyes. Police were called and arrested Needs after conducting interviews at the school.
Needs told police that she sprayed Cataldo after he got sarcastic with her and that she felt threatened, according to MacKenzie.
Now Needs faces charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault with a dangerous weapon, and carrying a firearm, the pepper spray, without proper registration, O'Connell said. She pleaded not guilty yesterday to all three charges.
Needs's lawyer, Robert Lewin, declined to comment on the case yesterday and said he advised Needs not to talk to the media.
''I don't try my cases on TV, and I don't try my cases in the press," Lewin said. ''I try them in court."
Andover High School officials did not return calls for comment.
Yesterday afternoon, Cataldo said that his eyes still felt irritated, but that he didn't think his vision was affected.
He denied that he had threatened Needs. ''I'm not sure how she would feel threatened," he said. '' was just standing there."
He said the students had randomly targeted her and that snowball throwing incidents are a common problem at the school.
Other recent allegations of adults assaulting children have come at youth sports events.
Jordan Waldman of Swampscott pleaded not guilty last month to assaulting 8-year-old Cameron Byrne at a Salem-Swampscott Youth Hockey League game in December; Waldman's son and Byrne had been shoving each other on the ice beforehand, witnesses said.
And Valerie Yianacopolus of Wakefield was found guilty this month of assaulting an 11-year-old boy cheering the opposing team at her son's Little League game nearly two years ago. She was sentenced to community service and an anger management program, among other penalties.
Needs, who does not have a criminal record, was released on the condition that she stay away from Cataldo and the high school, and not get into further legal trouble while the case is pending, O'Connell said.
She is scheduled to return to court April 15 for a pretrial hearing.
