Smith arrest age 52

On Tuesday, January 6, 2015, I, Detective Paul Duffy, was assigned to Detective Unit D2 and working the 400pm-1200am shift. At approximately 5:30pm I was dispatched to Marshall Street for a report of a “road rage”
incident which resulted in a stabbing. Upon arrival, I met with the stabbing victim, who was in the back of a Cataldo ambulance being given intravenous fluids by paramedics. I observed a stab wound on his right arm with heavy bleeding. Because of his condition, and the paramedics insistence that he need to be rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital ASAP, he was only able to give me a brief statement. I would note however, that although he was suffering from his wounds, he was articulate and clear in his statements:

The victim stated that he was in the process of backing his truck into a driveway on Marshall Street. Because of the size of his truck, and the narrowness of the street, it was, to say the least, a difficult task. Several cars were backed up on Marshall Street waiting for him to back in. One of these cars was operated by a man, later identified as David Smith, the defendant in this case. Apparently, Mr. Smith was perturbed that the victim was taking too long to back his truck in and began to relentlessly beep his horn in an effort to “assist” him in his parking attempts. When the beeping didn’t work, Smith then decided that calling the victim a “FUCKING ASSHOLE” might also help him back the truck in faster. It didn’t. Smith then yelled out his window, “ARE YOU FUCKING RETARDED”? This question did not sit well with the victim. The victim exited his vehicle and approached Smith to explain to him that he was having a difficult time backing the truck in and that he would appreciate if Smith would be a little bit more patient. Smith responded to his request by reaching into his back seat and grabbing a knife. He then exited his car and immediately began to strike at the victim with the knife in an attempt to stab him. The victim was able to fend off the knife-wielding Smith briefly but, at some point, stumbled, fell to the ground, and was stabbed by Smith.

By this time, according to the victim, operators of the several cars that were behind Smith’s, had exited their cars and tried to help him. One of these operators was able to get the knife out of Smith’s hand, after he had stabbed the victim, and throw it as far away as he could. When this happened, Smith jumped back in his vehicle and fled the scene. Shorty thereafter, emergency response unit showed up on scene.

Before the victim was taken away to MGH, he told me the man who stabbed him was white, in his 50’s, about 5’10-6’00 tall, 180-200lbs, wearing all dark green clothes. He also stated to me, “this guy was trying to kill me…he had a crazy look and he kept stabbing and slashing at me.. thank God that guy (WITNESS) got the knife away from him…”.

While I was interviewing the victim, I learned that a witness had made note of the plate number of the suspect’s vehicle-MA REG 111GJ2, a green Ford Explorer. A RMV check was run of this plate and it came back to David Smith of Sycamore Street, Somerville. Several SPD units responded there and located this vehicle, as well as David Smith, in front of Sycamore Street. Officer Soares observed that David Smith had large blood stains on his green jeans and noticed that, although the temperature was hovering around 12 degrees, Smith had taken OFF his green, blood-soaked hoodie and was carrying it. Subsequently, Sgt. Scott Whalen conducted a “show-up” where the witness, who had pried the knife from Smith’s hands and copied down his plate number, positively identified David Smith as the man who had stabbed the victim. After learning this, I asked Sgt. Whalen to place David Smith under arrest for Armed Assault with intent to Murder.