A Cambridge man was arrested last week after police say he stormed into the middle of Norfolk Street and shouted racial slurs at a group of Black schoolchildren, then spat on one of them — a girl on crutches — before he threatened to burn down their school.
His arrest marks at least the third time in five months that police have taken him into custody at the same location, with previous cases stalled because he lacked legal representation due to the ongoing criminal defense attorney work stoppage.
Dennis McNulty, 60, was arrested on Nov. 10 and charged with a bomb and hijack threat, assault and battery to intimidate and disorderly conduct.
McNulty was previously arrested on Norfolk Street on July 29 and again on Sept. 28 in other separate incidents.
From these incidents — which police said involved him throwing a glass bottle at a person and damaging property — McNulty also faces three counts of threatening to commit a crime, one count each of disorderly conduct and defacing property, and multiple charges involving dangerous weapons, including assault and battery, assault and carrying a weapon.
What happened on Nov. 10?
The incident that led to McNulty’s latest arrest began around 12:45 p.m. last Monday, according to a Cambridge police report. McNulty had been at an apartment building at 116 Norfolk St. — which he’d been evicted from, police said — and was in the lobby “‘destroying the building,’ punching the door and throwing things,” a 911 caller reported.
McNulty left the building and was in the center of Norfolk Street, police said, “posturing his body for a physical altercation” with several children who were passing by on the sidewalk across the street by the time officers arrived.
The children were students at Prospect Hill Academy Charter School in Cambridge, a pre-K through 12 school located at 50 Essex St., around the corner from Norfolk Street.
As the confrontation escalated, a crowd gathered on the sidewalk and residents leaned out of their doorways to watch, police said.
McNulty ran across Norfolk Street toward the group, bypassing a bystander who tried to intervene and ignoring officers who’d just arrived. He screamed a slew of racial slurs at the predominantly Black children, focusing on one girl who was using crutches.
Moments later, McNulty lunged towards the child and spat on her, according to police.
Fearing for the children’s safety, the Cambridge officer ran across the street and grabbed McNulty from behind in a “bear-hug,” yanking him towards the hood of his cruiser.
McNulty continued shouting racial slurs, threats and swears at the children as they tried to walk away and the officers attempted to calm him, police said.
Suddenly, McNulty screamed toward the group, “‘Yeah f*** you, I’ll burn your whole school down b**** with you in it,’” the police report read. He then looked at the officers and said, “‘Yeah, take it as a f****** threat.’”
Given how close the children’s school is located to Norfolk Street, many students told administrators they were concerned with their safety commuting to and from school.
The school’s principal, Christine Douglas, contacted Cambridge police the day of the incident with video that showed McNulty yelling at the girl he spat on before police arrived, police said. A spokesperson for Prospect Hill Academy Charter School told MassLive its officials were aware of the incident and were working with Cambridge police.
Why was McNulty arrested on Norfolk Street three times in five months?
McNulty was taken into custody and brought to the hospital for a mental evaluation after the incident, according to the police report.
He was arraigned Nov. 12 in Cambridge District Court and assigned a lawyer from the Committee for Public Counsel, court filings show.
A judge ordered his bail set at $250 and he was committed to Middlesex Jail, where he is currently in custody as of Nov. 18, according to the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office. McNulty’s bail for charges related to the incidents in July and September were both revoked.
McNulty’s suspected incident in July involved a verbal altercation with a person on Norfolk Street during which he made threats, a Cambridge police daily log showed. He kicked and damaged a generator and had a serrated kitchen knife on his person when he was taken into custody, police said.
In September, McNulty was again arrested on Norfolk Street after police said he struck one person in the face “with a drumstick” and threw a glass bottle at another.
But both of these cases fell under the Lavallee protocol, which requires that a defendant who cannot afford an attorney and isn’t assigned one must be released after seven days, with charges dismissed after 45.
Court filings for each case showed various delays, defaults and rescheduling, with counsel appointed only for singular hearing dates at certain points.
Each case also had Lavallee protocol hearings, which forced McNulty’s release from custody after seven days, whether he’d posted bail or not.
Why don’t people have lawyers?
Defendants are going without counsel because bar advocate attorneys, or criminal defense lawyers who take on cases for those who cannot afford a lawyer, have stopped taking on new cases since Memorial Day.
This has left thousands of people without counsel throughout the past months and led to hundreds of cases dismissed.
Lawmakers tried to ease the crisis in August by passing a law to raise hourly rates for bar advocates from $65 to $85 by 2027, a move the bar advocates called “a slap in the face.”
The bill also included language to prevent another bar advocate work stoppage, and a $40 million allocation of funds to the Committee for Public Counsel Services to (CPCS) to hire 320 more lawyers and lessen the agency’s heavy reliance on bar advocates.
But with the crisis rolling into late fall, CPCS has taken further action by way of a one-time $2,500 incentive to assist in the “prompt assignment” of attorneys to criminal defendants with cases in Suffolk and Middlesex district courts or in the Boston Municipal Courts who are currently unrepresented.
The program, which closed at 5 p.m. on Monday, allowed lawyers who chose to participate to receive a maximum total of $7,500 for accepting 15 new cases, on top of their normal hourly rate.
That effort helped drive the count down from more than 2,000 in October to 736 as of Nov. 13 — but CPCS was still arguing last week that “even stronger medicine” is still needed, by way of dismissals “with prejudice.” This would stop prosecutors from recharging defendants with crimes.
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