Massachusetts Officer Stabbed While Trying To Perform Wellness Check On Woman

Leominster, MA – A Worcester County woman is facing attempted murder charges after she stabbed a Leominster police officer on Monday when officers came to her home and attempted to perform a wellness check.

Officials said the incident occurred at about 10:49 a.m. on Oct. 18 after two Leominster police officers went to a home in the 100-block of Water Street to check on the woman inside, WFXT reported.

Police said a private medical company had called the authorities and reported that one of their employees was assaulted by the woman inside the home.

Responding officers arrived on the scene and the resident – later identified as 30-year-old Andrea Alexis – barricaded herself in a bedroom to avoid them, WFXT reported.

Leominster Police Chief Aaron Kennedy said his officers tried to de-escalate the situation multiple times before finally forcing their way into the bedroom, WCVB reported.

Chief Kennedy said that Leominster Police Officer Mathew Chagnon and at least one other officer eventually gained entry to the suspect’s room.

The suspect violently resisted officers’ efforts to take her into custody and refused to be subdued, according to WFXT.

Chief Kennedy said she tried to stab one of the officers in the chest with a double-edged knife, WCVB reported.

The chief that Officer Chagnon was able to roll away from the woman’s attack but the suspect continued fighting and ultimately stabbed the officer in the upper thigh, WCVB reported.

Alexis continued to resist arrest even after stabbing him so Officer Chagnon deployed his Taser to gain control of the violent suspect, WFXT reported.

Alexis was handcuffed and arrested after she was Tased, according to the police chief.

The other officer on the scene applied a tourniquet to Officer Chagnon’s badly-bleeding wound and then he and the suspect were both transported to Leominster Hospital for treatment, WFXT reported.

Officer Chagnon was treated and released from the hospital to recover at home, WCVB reported.

His injuries are serious enough to keep the officer from duty for several weeks while he recovers.

Alexis has been charged with assault and battery on a police officer, causing serious bodily injury, threatening to commit a crime (to wit murder), attempted murder, resisting arrest, assault and battery with a deadly weapon, possessing a dangerous weapon (double-edged knife), and wanton destruction of property, WFXT reported.