Police Officer Arrested

Salem News www.salemnews.com

Published: 01/13/2007
Rockport cop arrested for firing shot during dispute
By Douglas A. Moser
Staff writer

ROCKPORT - The Police Department's domestic violence officer is in jail following his arrest yesterday after police say he fired a weapon during a domestic dispute with his wife.

Robert O'Neil, 38, of 9 Darby Lane is being held on $500,000 cash bail, authorities said. They would not say where he is jailed.
O'Neil, was arrested at 11:23 a.m. yesterday at his home on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon, domestic assault and battery, armed assault with intent to murder, and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building.
Patrolman James Hurst said Chief Tom McCarthy had no comment on the arrest.
O'Neil is being held on the high bail until he is arraigned Tuesday in Gloucester District Court.
Officials at Gloucester District Court said Judge Richard Mori impounded the contents of a restraining order against O'Neil until Tuesday.
A visibly distraught woman at O'Neil's home, who did not identify herself, said yesterday evening she did not want to talk about what happened as a young girl called out to her and ran up behind the woman. Neighbors said they were "shocked" when asked about O'Neil's arrest. On neighboring Toomey Lane, Leroy Silva III said he did not hear anything and did not think twice when he saw a police cruiser outside O'Neil's home yesterday.

"Then I saw the crime van and thought something was up," Silva said.
His wife, Barbara Silva, said they often saw O'Neil and his wife and daughter together.
"I saw him and his wife in the yard pushing his daughter on the swing," she said.
John and Ruth Main, of 10 Darby Lane, said they had socialized with O'Neil and his wife several times.
"They seemed to be a very nice couple," John Main said.
Ruth Main said they were "wonderful neighbors" and that the O'Neils had joined the Mains for dinner several times at the Mains' home. The Mains said they were home yesterday morning but did not hear or notice anything amiss until they saw police cruisers pull up at O'Neil's house.
"Maybe it was an accident or something," Ruth Main said. "I can't believe it could happen," she said of the gunshot alleged by police.
Across Darby Lane, Roy Silva, Leroy Silva's father, said he knew the family in passing and as neighbors chatting across a fence.
"I talked to him and his wife once in a while," he said. "I don't know of anyone in the neighborhood who had any problems with him."
Silva and his wife, Cheryl, were not home yesterday morning, Roy Silva said.

Michael Frontierro, of Munroe Drive, said he played with O'Neil in the town's men's softball league.
"I'm shocked," Frontierro said. "I always got along with him. I would not say he was a close friend, but he was close enough. He and his wife always used to go to Boston College football games. I hope he's OK, and I hope she's OK. I never anticipated there was anything that serious in the relationship."
Rockport hired O'Neil as a patrolman in July 1999, and he was treasurer of the Rockport Police Association in 2000. In 2001, he took charge of the Rockport School District's DARE program, which gives a series of lessons to fifth-graders created by the federal government about drug and alcohol use.
Staff writers Jason Simpson and Julio Chuy contributed to this report.

Cop's aren't immune from getting themselves in trouble. If the story is as alleged, too bad he didn't seek help when he found himself reaching that point.

Wow. That's a shame. It's hard enough dealing with domestic situations with people you don't know. It must be hard for the other members of Rockport PD to have to do this. I hope that family gets all the help they need.

Police Officer Faces Domestic Violence Charges

O'Neil Is Department's Domestic Violence Officer

Video: Officer To Face Charges

GLOUCESTER, Mass. -- A Rockport police officer will be arraigned on Tuesday on domestic violence charges, according to police.

NewsCenter 5's Shiba Russell reported that Robert O'Neil is expected to face a judge sometime Tuesday afternoon after spending the holiday weekend behind bars held on $500,000 bond after an alleged domestic incident involving his wife on Friday.

O'Neil is the domestic violence officer for the Rockport Police Department.

O'Neil's wife, Rosa Benito, told police that her husband was drinking and became agitated after a conversation she had with her sister.

According to police, Benito said O'Neil broke three phones and slapped her while she was holding her 2-year-old daughter. Benito said she put her daughter upstairs and then sat in the living room.

According to a police affidavit, Benito said, "My husband began yelling at me, 'You'll be sorry.' He then shot his service weapon at me while I was sitting in the chair."

Benito said she called police after O'Neil went upstairs.

Benito is expected to try to extend a one-week restraining order to one year.

O'Neil has been suspended from the police force.

Copyright 2007 by TheBostonChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Rockport officer released from jail

GLOUCESTER, Mass

The Rockport Police Department's domestic violence officer charged with firing a weapon during a dispute with his wife has been released from jail on personal recognizance.
Robert O'Neil, 38, was released despite objections from prosecutors and his wife, Rosa Benito, who told the court "I don't feel safe," according to the Gloucester Daily Times.
Gloucester District Court Judge Richard Mori on Friday released O'Neil, and ordered him to confine himself to his sister's home in Walpole. O'Neil is wearing a monitoring device, and can only leave the home to meet with his lawyer or attend a mandatory substance abuse program.
"I'm afraid," Benito testified Friday during a hearing to review O'Neil's custody status. "I don't feel safe, and I don't feel that my daughter is safe. I don't want this happening again in my life."
Benito said she was upset at her husband of 10 years because he broke a New Year's resolution to stop drinking, the newspaper reported.
O'Neil was arrested Jan. 12 on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon, domestic assault and battery, armed assault with intent to murder and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building. O'Neil allegedly fired a handgun near his wife's head at their Rockport home.
Mori said he did not believe O'Neil was dangerous enough to be held without bail for 90 days.
O'Neil, who turned in his passport, has been an officer in Rockport since July 1999. He's been suspended without pay.
A Feb. 20 pretrial hearing was scheduled.