Latest news with #StevenXiarhos
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
State Rep. Steven Xiarhos rear-ended in Braintree crash. No injuries reported.
State Rep. Steven Xiarhos, R-West Barnstable, was involved in a hit-and-run on Route 3 north near Exit 40 in Braintree on June 18, according to the state police. Xiarhos was not seriously injured, although his car had significant damage, according to his statement posted on Facebook. Around 10 a.m., a 31-year-old man from Quincy driving a black Infinity G37 crashed into the rear of Xiarhos' car, according to statements from police and the office for Xiarhos. The driver then left the scene. State police were able to locate the car, with damages consistent to the crash, later that day on Willard Street in Quincy, according to the state police. The driver was allegedly showing signs of impairment and was arrested by state police. The man faces charges of leaving the scene of property damage, driving under the influence (drugs), negligent operation and driving with a suspended license. State police took the man to the state police barracks for booking. Desiree Nikfardjam is a reporter covering breaking and trending news. She graduated from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. You can reach her at DNikfardjam@ Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription. Here are our subscription plans. This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: State Rep. Xiarhos not injured following hit-and-run in Braintree
Boston Globe
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Mass. police say a 25-foot buffer will keep them safe. First Amendment advocates call it ‘dangerous.'
The proposal largely mirrors a new 'It's a fine line when someone is right up in the officer's face, not necessarily touching or getting in between them and the person they're talking to, but making it difficult to do their job,' said Thomas Fowler, Salisbury's police chief and chair of the legislative committee for Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, which is advocating Advertisement 'And then there's a fine line about their right to video tape, which they have,' Fowler said. 'But where does it cross the line?' Advertisement For First Amendment advocates, the bill goes too far. Attorneys said the measure would make it substantially more difficult for the media and others to record police, which, in some instances, has provided crucial evidence of misconduct. A teenager's cellphone video of officer Derek Chauvin pressing his knee into George Floyd's neck in May 2020 offered Federal courts have repeatedly said that 'It's a danger to the First Amendment rights of the public and of the press,' Sullivan said of the legislation. 'Every case turns on its own set of facts. That's why overly broad and vague statutes are dangerous, and don't serve the purpose they're intended to serve.' The proposal, which was filed by a bipartisan pair of lawmakers who previously served as police officers, would bar people from going within 25 feet of police officers, firefighters, or EMTs after one of those first responders gives a verbal warning 'not to approach.' Anyone who disregards that order — with the intention to 'impede or interfere,' threaten with physical harm, or harass the officer — would face up to a $1,000 fine, and possible prison time for subsequent offenses. The proposal defines harassment as any action that intentionally causes an officer or first responder 'substantial emotional distress . . . and serves no legitimate purpose.' Advertisement State Representative Steven Xiarhos, a former Yarmouth police officer, saluted the flag during a 2022 political rally for Republican candidates. Nathan Klima for The Boston Globe Supporters say the bill doesn't seek to bar someone from recording police and would help stave off what state Representative Steven Xiarhos, one of the bill's authors, said can be rare but 'ugly' incidents. 'It's not respectful to yell and scream obscenities or whatever you want to say to a human being who is just trying to do their job,' said Xiarhos, a West Barnstable Republican and Yarmouth's former deputy police chief. He is sponsoring the bill with Representative Richard Wells Jr., a Milton Democrat who served as that town's police chief. Those who interfere with police can already face arrests on other charges, but 'there can be some gray area' in how police choose to apply the current law, said Michael Bradley, executive director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association. 'Is it interference? Is it disorderly conduct? Is it breach of the peace?' he said. 'This [bill] spells it out more clearly. Here is the warning to let us do our job. And if people choose to ignore that, we have a statute that we can point to.' The bill's language is similar to a Advertisement 'It is very easy to imagine in a stressful situation — say very similar to what we saw with Block lobbied against the Florida measure before it passed, warning that it was ill defined and left too much to an individual officer's 'discretionary interpretation.' 'And laws that lend themselves to discretionary interpretation,' he said, 'usually aren't good ones.' Other buffer-zone laws have already faced legal turbulence. A federal judge in 2023 ruled that an Arizona law that Federal judges in recent months have blocked similar 25-foot buffer zone laws in two states — The Florida law and similarly written Massachusetts bill represent the 'third generation' of these proposals, in which lawmakers have included some more specific language but, in practice, still raise 'serious First Amendment concerns,' said Grayson Clary, a staff attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and part of the legal team that challenged the Louisiana and Indiana laws. 'You're still handing officers a lot of power to detain somebody — who is trying to document what they're doing — if they don't want to be recorded,' Clary said. Advertisement There can be other real-world impacts, Clary said: Pushed back 25 feet, reporters will have a harder time trying to interview people, record audio, or take video of a scene — meaning the public will also have less visibility into how officers are interacting with the public. Members of the media are also more likely to comply with any requests from officers to move from a certain area, even if it's unclear whether they're receiving a formal 'verbal warning' as outlined in the bill, he said. 'Even if these laws don't ultimately lead to a reporter getting arrested, they have a chilling effect,' Clary said. 'What a reporter is going to do in [that situation] is move, so they don't spend a night in jail.' Block, of the First Amendment Foundation, said in the months since the Florida law took effect, he has taken calls from worried groups, including organizations representing photojournalists, 'wanting to know what we are going to do' about the statute. His answer: He can't do much legally, at least until there's an apparent 'abuse' of the law that can provide a foundation for challenging it in the courts. 'There is a lot of lip service being paid to everyone's First Amendment rights. But when you get down to it, people are taking chunks out of it at every opportunity they have,' Block said. 'The only way to push back unfortunately is through lawsuits. But we all know lawsuits can take a long time and be very costly.' Matt Stout can be reached at
