Fleeing fire, mother drops baby into the arms of Lowell police officers
By Emily Sweeney and Travis Andersen Globe Staff,Updated February 11, 2021, 5:32 p.m.
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Julie Collentro, 20, of Lowell, and her 2-year-old daughter, Kehlani. They both escaped from a house fire by going out a second floor window.Julie Collentro
Julie Collentroâs building in Lowell was on fire early Wednesday, and she held her baby close as she tried to figure out a way to escape. They were on the second floor, and thick smoke was filling up the home. She went over to the window and looked down, and was relieved to see a police officer standing outside on the ground below.
Friends of Henry Tapia are mourning the loss of a man they describe as “nothing short of amazing.”
Tapia, 34, was struck by a car and died a short time after an alleged road rage incident on Upland Road in Belmont on Wednesday. The other man involved, 54-year-old Dean Kapsalis, of Hudson, allegedly shouted a racial slur at Tapia, who is Black, moments before allegedly striking him with the Dodge Dakota he was driving.
Kapsalis allegedly fled the scene as Tapia lay in the street with life-threatening injuries. Tapia was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he later died.
Kapsalis, meanwhile, is being charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (the vehicle), a civil rights violation causing injury, and leaving the scene of an accident causing personal injury, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan. Upgraded charges are possible as the investigation continues, she said Wednesday.
Wakefield police responded to a home in town and found a woman dead, according to a statement from the office of Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan. Additional officers were called to the scene, and during the investigation a man was shot by police, the statement said.