What to Know
- Paul Sheehan, 54, of Boston's Dorchester neighborhood has been charged with disorderly conduct.
- Police say Sheehan could face more charges in connection with the incident, which was caught on video and has gone viral on Facebook.
- Sheehan could be heard repeatedly saying in the video, "Get the f--- out of my neighborhood, this is my f------ neighborhood."
Boston police’s civil rights unit said it is investigating an incident involving an MBTA Commuter Rail employee who was caught on camera launching into an expletive-laced racial tirade against a black couple on motorcycles, who had pulled over in his neighborhood Friday night due to a police detour.
Police said an officer was in Dorchester directing traffic at Adams and Chelmsford streets on Friday night after a crash when he heard a man screaming on Chelmsford Street. When the officer arrived, he allegedly saw a white man, identified as 54-year-old Paul Sheehan of Dorchester, screaming at two motorcyclists.
"You f------ animals, shooting m-----f------ in my neighborhood," the suspect was heard repeatedly screaming by the officer. "I pay a mortgage, get the f--- out of my neighborhood, this is my f------ neighborhood."
NeNe Judge, who was riding a motorcycle along her husband, also captured Sheehan's diatribe on cell phone video and posted it to social media. By Tuesday evening, the Facebook post had garnered nearly 600,000 views and was shared more than 17,000 times.
"The anger made me scared," Judge said. "He was so angry and I literally didn't do nothing to him."
The video footage also shows an officer stepping in between Sheehan and the couple, telling Sheehan, "I don't care where she lives," as he tries to usher the man away.
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Judge told the officer that she and her husband had pulled over to "figure out where they were and how to get where they were going" after getting lost because of the detour, police said. The couple then left the scene.
"He really didn't want me in his neighborhood. Really didn't want me there," Judge said Tuesday.
According to police, about an hour and half after the incident, the officer noticed Sheehan walking up Adams Street repeatedly screaming, "F--- that n-----," and told him to stop.
Sheehan allegedly kept walking and then tried to pull down a traffic sign pole that was in the crime scene of the car crash, repeatedly screaming "the f------ animals f------ my property."
Sheehan was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. He was arraigned on Monday and released on personal recognizance. He is due back in court on Oct. 15. It's unclear if he has an attorney.
Boston Police Civil Rights Unit said Tuesday it is investigating the incident to determine whether additional charges will be filed against Sheehan.
MBTA Commuter Rail operator Keolis confirmed that Sheehan is an employee of the company and that the matter is under investigation.
"As a local employer and a company providing a service to the public, we have absolutely no tolerance for this type of reprehensible conduct or language in or outside the workplace," a Keolis spokesperson said in a statement.
