On brink of termination
hearing, Eduardo Raposo quits the police force. Fall River police lieutenant
has retired in the wake of his recent arrest in Swansea, where he is accused of
assaulting his wife and waving a handgun in the air during a domestic dispute
last week.
Eduardo Raposo, 56, of 5
Kensington Court in Swansea, is currently being held without bail. He appeared
Monday for a dangerousness hearing in Fall River District Court, but Judge
Gilbert Nadeau said he would delay until Wednesday a ruling on whether to hold
Raposo without bail for 90 days.
Raposo, a 26-year member of the
Fall River Police Department who was most recently assigned to the department’s
records division, is charged with carrying a firearm while intoxicated, and
assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
After learning of Raposo’s
recent arrest — which is at least the third occasion in which Raposo was
criminally charged during his law enforcement career — Fall River Police Chief
Daniel Racine said he immediately suspended Raposo’s license to carry a firearm
and began the process for a termination hearing.
“To say I am disturbed about
this latest incident would be a gross understatement,” Racine said. “The
conduct detailed by the Swansea Police Department is disturbing and will not be
tolerated by the Fall River Police Department.”
Racine added that the Fall
River Retirement Board notified him on May 15 that Raposo had retired effective
immediately, removing Raposo from the Fall River Police Department’s purview of
rules, regulations and disciplinary procedures.
“However, his criminal charges remain
in full force and effect, and we will monitor the case and assist Swansea
police and prosecutors if requested,” Racine said.
On May 14, around 9:30 p.m.,
Swansea police officers responded to a report of domestic violence at Raposo’s
home. There, the officers said they saw Raposo’s wife crying hysterically and
running down the house’s driveway. She was accompanied by her son, who was
armed with a pipe he said he grabbed for self-defense, according to court
documents.
Raposo’s wife and her son told
police that Raposo, who had been recently out of work on sick leave, was
drinking heavily that day. They said Raposo kicked a bathroom door into his
wife, causing her to fall to the floor, and then began waving his gun in the
air, according to court documents.
While being interviewed,
Raposo’s wife begged the police officers not to arrest Raposo, and said several
times that she was scared he would lose his pension and shoot himself,
according to court documents.
“He kicked me but he didn’t
mean it. ... Please, we will just leave,” Raposo’s wife said, according to
court documents.
