HollyMatkinOrange, MA – A combative man threatened to kill the family of a police officer on Christmas Eve, and said he was going to force the officer to watch as he ate them.
Orange Police Officers Adam Cooley and Jonathan Cole were dispatched to a residence at approximately 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 24, 2017, after a woman called police and reported that she wanted her intoxicated son removed from her home, the Greenfield Recorder reported.
Upon arrival, officers noticed that 26-year-old Jeffrey Liimatainen’s speech was slurred, and his eyes were bloodshot.
The officers found gabapentin pills in his pockets, which he claimed were prescribed to him.
With nowhere else to go, the drunken man was taken into protective custody and transported to the police station, where he proceeded to tell officers that he was going to fight them and run away.
When the time came for officers to transport the man to the Franklin County House of Correction, police said Liimatainen became aggressive.
He hurled his boot at Officer Cooley, but missed him by a few feet. So he punched the police officer in the chest.
Officers were able to subdue Liimatainen and placed him in handcuffs, at which time he began spitting inside the booking room.
When officers asked him why he was doing that, he told them there was nowhere else to spit, police said.
Police escorted the unruly man was escorted to a patrol vehicle for his transport to jail.
“(Liimatainen) also continued to spit all over the back seat of the cruiser, because once again, there was nowhere else to spit,” arrest documents stated, according to the Greenfield Recorder.
While en route to the detention center, Liimatainen told Officer Cooley that he was going to locate the officer’s home address, and that he planned to tie the officer up.
He said he would then kill Officer Cooley’s entire family, and that he would force the restrained officer to watch as he ate them, police said.
Liimatainen was charged with assault and battery of a police officer, assault with a dangerous weapon, threatening to commit murder, and possession of a Class E drug.
He pleaded not guilty in Orange District Court on Dec. 29, 2017, and the judge released him on his own recognizance.
Liimatainen is due back in court on Feb. 16.