A Massachusetts woman appeared in court Wednesday to face charges after she allegedly hit an officer with a bag of dog feces last month.
Margaret Greer, 63, a successful financial adviser from Wellesley, is charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assault and battery on a police officer. She requested a continuation at Wednesday's pre-trial hearing because her attorney couldn't be there and is now scheduled to return to court on July 23.
Wellesley Police said they responded to a report of a woman who was verbally harassing two teenage boys who were fishing at a pond in Centennial Park on June 19. The boys told police the woman was giving them a hard time and throwing their fish back in the pond, saying they were protected.
As police were interviewing the two teens, they said Greer emerged from the woods with her dog. The police report said she appeared agitated and then began "ranting" about how the park is a game reserve and the fish and wildlife there are supposed to be protected. Police said they observed signs that Greer may have been drinking, and noticed she was carrying a clear plastic bag in her hand that contained what appeared to be dog feces.
But Greer has a very different story.
"They weren't doing this with a hook, line and sinker," she said of the fishing boys. "They had a 6-foot casting net that they were pulling fish by the dozens."
Greer says she told the kids to leave, but they called police. She says while she tried to explain what happened to one of the fathers who had arrived at the park, she was accosted by an officer.
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"He immediately carried me around, picked me up under my arms, off the ground, kicked my feet out from under me, and threw me face down on the ground," she said.
Police said Greer became extremely agitated while talking to the officers and attempted to leave. When one of the officers said he needed to speak with her first, they said she continued to walk away.
Police admit using an arm bar takedown to gain control of the Greer, who says she ended up bruised and with a broken wrist. According to police, she then turned back toward the officer and swung the bag of feces at his face. The officer said he moved out of the way and tried to grab her arm to control her. She began to rub the bag of dog feces on the officer's left arm and continued trying to pull away. As officers tried to restrain Greer, they said she continued to pull away, while screaming obscenities. Police say they were eventually able to subdue her and handcuff her.
As she was taken to the police station in a cruiser, police say Greer became belligerent, listing off the names of various town officials and influential residents she knew. She later allegedly refused to leave the cruiser and enter the police station, and police say they had to pull her out of the vehicle forcibly.
Police say Greer appeared drunk.
"I had not been drinking," she told necn.
If her name is familiar, this isn't her first brush with the law.
In 2009, she was accused of trying to run over a state trooper while he was writing her a parking ticket at Logan Airport.
Necn reached out to Wellesley's police chief, but has not heard back. Greer says she thought fishing was prohibited in this park and that's why she confronted the boys, but fishing is legal here.
