A 16-year-old girl with a learner's permit was driving with her mom tonight when something happened and the front of her Saturn Vue ended up through the front window at Bravo School of Dance, 14 Broadway Street, Dracut, about 6 p.m.
No one was hurt, but police tell me an instructor and six girls ages 11 to 14 were in the back of the building.
They were just shaken up though.
A building inspector is going to check out the building on Thursday, but it initially appeared to be okay, aside from a couple large broken windows and some broken bricks.
"We're just all saying our prayers and thanking god no one was hurt," the dance school owner told me.
John Machado, 75, of Lowell, was arrested at Lowell District Court Tuesday morning after he got a bit agitated.
According to police reports, Machado was enraged that court officers insisted he take off his hat and empty his pockets before going through a metal detector as part of the routine security screening that everyone at the court has to go through.
As the court was opening for the day, Machado began yelling, swearing, and swinging his cane at court officers, creating a scene that prevented anyone else from getting into the building.
Several swings of the cane and a lot of bad words later, Machado was eventually arrested.
He is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon (cane), disorderly conduct, assault, and assault and battery on a corrections officer.
Police couldn't tell me why Machado was at court to begin with.
I'm glad I'm not the one who has to inform him that he will be searched when he returns to the court for future hearings.
Lt. Timothy Crowley stopped the guy pictured below on Willard Street for a traffic violation tonight about 9 p.m., and the guy sat there for several minutes while Crowley ran his information.
Then he took off.
Crowley gave chase, and watched as a woman in the car who apparently wanted out hung halfway out the door as the driver continued driving.
Crowley and over a half dozen other cruisers finally got him stopped on Dutton Street at Market Street, which is where these photos were taken.
Here's some video of him going into the wagon.
I'll grab his name and the charges when I get the nightly arrest report here at 10.
UPDATE: Jesus Figueroa, 38, of 10 Fenwick Terrace, unit 107, Lowell, is charged with failure to stop for police.
I'll be checking later to see if more charges are added.
Police tell me 19-year-old Anthony Maimone, of Billerica, was taken to the hospital this afternoon after the Rav4 he was driving struck another vehicle and rolled onto its roof at Belmont and Summit streets in Belvedere this afternoon.
Three men who were in the Rav4 with him took off running.
Police were called to the intersection at 4:35 p.m. Witnesses said the other three men were wearing dark-colored T-shirts, and fled immediately.
A 41-year-old Westford woman told me she was slowly driving up Belmont Street with her 12-year-old daughter when the Rav4 sped out of Summit Street without stopping, clipping the driver's side front of her BMW and then rolled over onto its roof.
The woman and her daughter were not hurt.
Here's some video of a two company getting the Rav4 back on 4-wheels.
Oh and just in case you've ever wondered...
...this is what your mom's car will look like if you ever roll it over while driving in Lowell.
Police went off almost immediately and found about five shell casings from a .22 caliber handgun (above) and one casing from a large-caliber rifle round (below) on the sidewalk and street.
A window was shot out on the first floor of 135 Salem St., where several adults and children had been inside.
One round went completely through the wall and ended up in a refrigerator.
No word on a description or anything. A small child inside got hit by plaster that went flying when the bullet penetrated the wall, but he was said to be okay.
A canine from Wilmington Police was called in to try and track the suspects, who may have fled on foot.
Anyone with information is asked to call Lowell police at 978-937-3200 or Crimestoppers at 978-459-TIPS (8477). Information can also be sent to police via Text-a-Tip, by texting TIP411 (847411) with the subject "LPDTIP."
Tipsters can remain anonymous, but can receive up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest.
Here's some video of officers marking the shell casings outside.
I just double-checked with Assistant City Manager TJ McCarthy and there have been no mandatory or even city-requested evacuations.
Several residents on Pratt Avenue called the Emergency Operations Center tonight and had the fire department get them out of their house, which was surrounded by about 4-feet of water.
In the end, about 15 to 20 people were evacuated via a fire department Zodiac boat, as can be seen in the pictures and video included here.
Among those were Moe Loyn, of 45 Pratt Ave., who said the waters were fine when he took a nap this afternoon, but surrounding the house when he woke up. He was evacuated along this his two kids, his mother-in-law and her two kids.
He said they would all be staying with family. Once they were out, firefighters shut down the utilities to their home.
The kids, some of which are pictured below, include two 9-month-olds, an 18-month-old and a 5-year-old.
The back half of Hadley Park is a pond at this point, and Pratt Avenue, which runs from Middlesex Street has about 4-feet of water at some points.
Firefighters then checked with everyone else on the flooded street, and ended up evacuating about 15 to 20 people.
Some of the older residents had to be carried out of the boat by firefighters as seen here
and here,
Carol Tran, of Lowell, left her 15-month-old son Jeremy with her 49-year-old aunt and 80-year-old grandmother on Pratt Avenue, and then was unable to get him back until firefighters pulled them out by boat.
This photo shows a firefighter handing Jeremy back to Carol last night.
Carol told me they would all be staying elsewhere in the city with family Monday night.
McCarthy told me residents on the bottom floor of the Centennial Island Apartments on Lawrence Street also cleared out as the Concord River approached 9-feet, a level not seen since 1955.
Here is a pretty long video of the evacuations, complete with a firefighter carrying a baby in a baby seat out of the waters.
Further south, it's worth noting that as of the National Weather Service's update at 9:35 p.m., the Shawsheen River is now flowing at the highest level in recorded history, 10.59 feet.
I went to the bridge that carries Martin and Beaver streets over the Beaver Brook this afternoon on my way into the office and the city is putting up the flood wall there now, as well as a temporary dam to protect the Martin Street side of the river.
Neighbor said the water had gone from about 5 feet below the bridge all the way up to the bottom of the bridge in just a few hours. They're getting nervous.
This is the regular flood wall.
And these two are of the temporary dam that is being put up.
This thing went up fairly quickly too. This second photo is only from about 15 minutes later.
The reason for all this is that the Merrimack River is now predicted to rise even higher than it was last night.
Predictions now say it will get to about 54.5 feet, moderate flood stage, by Tuesday night.
The Shawsheen River is already just hundredths of an inch from it's highest ever flood stage, and it is expected to pass that soon.
If you're interested in total rainfall so far during this storm, here is a good list of spotter reports from the National Weather Service.
I'll be watching for evacuations and stuff tonight. Lets hope there aren't any.
For information on what the city of Lowell is up to the City Manager's Blog seems to be a good source so far.
And as the manager says there:
Any person having a storm or flood related emergency should call 911. All non-emergency inquiries related to severe weather/flood conditions are being directed to call the EOC at 978-970-4052
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