Drunk Teens Attempt Home Invasion to take Baby
FITCHBURG — A teenage couple was arrested Sunday for allegedly trying to cut their way into a neighbor’s home while drunk to retrieve their baby.
Around 9:15 p.m., Fitchburg police saw a group of teens yelling and screaming in the road near McDonald’s on Kimball Street. They were Derek J. Parker, 19, of 105 2nd St., Turners Falls, his 16-year-old girlfriend and his male cousin.
The girl, whose name was not released because she is a minor and who has a baby with Parker, was suffering a nosebleed. When asked by police, she said she was jumped by four people two hours earlier and would not change her story.
Later in the report, it is alleged that Parker is really the one who struck her.
At 10 p.m., police received a call about an attempted home invasion at 86 Cleghorn St. The same three were observed outside the residence, and Parker and his girlfriend were both visibly intoxicated, according to police reports.
The narrative told by witnesses is that neighbors on the first floor heard screaming, loud bangs and the girl scream for help from their second-floor apartment. One of the neighbors went upstairs to check on them, and the cousin answered the door and said everything was fine.
Two minutes later, the neighbors reported seeing the girl outside with a bloody face, but she declined help. Parker’s cousin ended up bringing the baby down to the first-floor neighbors for safekeeping, and Parker and his girlfriend left the house.
They came back later, visibly drunk according to witnesses, and asked for their baby back. The neighbors refused.
They said Parker pushed a blade through their metal door while his girlfriend kicked the door. Parker then showed them what appeared to be a handgun, but was really a BB pistol. The neighbors, who had three children of their own in the house, then called the police.
The cousin declined to speak to police.
Police found puncture marks on the metal door of the neighbor’s apartment, including two that went all the way through. The apartment is rented by the stepfather of the minor girlfriend, and police got his permission over the phone to search the apartment. They found the BB gun and a kitchen knife with a broken handle.
Parker and his girlfriend were arrested at the scene. Their baby was turned over to a social worker.
As a minor, the girlfriend’s court documents are not available to the public. The Fitchburg police log said she was arrested on a home-invasion charge. The police report in Parker’s court file states that the girl was taken to a program for troubled youths in Worcester.
Parker’s description from police listed more than 30 tattoos, including his girlfriend’s name on his chest, along with skulls, religious symbols, clowns, brass knuckles and a cartoon fairy.
Parker was arraigned in Fitchburg District Court on Monday on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon, home invasion, and assault and battery. He was held and is scheduled for a dangerousness hearing Thursday to determine if bail should be issued.
By Michael Hartwell