Man Charged with Assaulting MA Firefighters, Police
Source The Enterprise, Brockton, MA
BROCKTON, MA-– A man who set his mattress on fire and stabbed himself is now charged with assaulting five officers and two firefighters, police said.
Police charged 25-year-old Marcus Muzzy with nine offenses on Tuesday related to a fire at 749 North Montello St. early Sunday morning, police told The Enterprise. The city resident was issued a summons after officers who were injured were back to work and able to file the report on the incident.
The Brockton Fire Department responded to the North Montello Street home about 12:30 a.m. on Sunday for a report of smoke in the house. When firefighters arrived, they learned a mattress inside a first-floor bedroom was on fire.
"The patient ... he admitted to starting the fire to the firefighters that were taking him out of the home," Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Marchetti told The Enterprise on Wednesday.
But that patient became a defendant when police say he assaulted the public safety officials trying to help him.
Police classify the initial incident as an attempted suicide, but say it's unclear why Muzzy then lashed out.
"He was in the room laying on the ground and breathing in the fumes when firefighters arrived," said police Detective Sgt. Michael Dennehy. "They brought him out to the ambulance on a stretcher and he jumped off and started attacking all the officers and firefighters that were nearby."
The police report describes Muzzy as a 6-foot 6-inch tall man who weighs more than 350 pounds, so officers said it was difficult to control him.
"He was just fighting wildly," Dennehy said. "He was swinging his arms around and started punching them, so they had to tase him."
At that point, officers were able to get Muzzy under control and bring him by ambulance to Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton. Police say Muzzy had also stabbed and cut himself multiple times, about a dozen, before they arrived on scene.
Two firefighters were also hospitalized, but they were released about five hours later, Marchetti said.
"They suffered what were called soft tissue injuries," he said.
Fire officials are still investigating how Muzzy started the fire, but Marchetti said they haven't been able to talk to him yet due to his injuries. The department is working with a Brockton police arson investigator to determine whether additional charges will be filed related to the minor fire, which was extinguished within 10 minutes of the call.
Police say they are unsure why Muzzy decided to injure the officers and firefighters, but they believe he may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Muzzy will be issued a summons to appear in Brockton District Court, but the date of his arraignment wasn't set as of Wednesday afternoon.
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