By Bruno Matarazzo Jr. and Julie Manganis
PEABODY — The former Ipswich woman accused of gunning down three biology professors in Alabama on Friday was once charged with punching another mother at a Peabody pancake house in a dispute over a child's booster seat.
Amy Bishop, 45, was summonsed to court by Peabody police on charges of disorderly conduct and assault and battery in March 2002.
The charges were filed after Bishop allegedly punched the mother after swearing at her because the other woman had been given the last available booster seat at the International House of Pancakes, which was on Sylvan Street. Bishop, who had been seated after the other family, insisted the seat should be given to her because she claimed she arrived first.
The following May, Peabody District Court Judge Robert Ronquillo continued the case without a finding for six months at the request of Bishop's lawyer, James Belliveau. The charges were then dismissed.
A prosecutor at the time had urged a guilty finding be entered, with a sentence of one year of supervised probation, and a condition that Bishop take part in an anger-management program.
Ronquillo agreed with the defense attorney and did not order anger management.
Cesar Archilla, who was the Peabody District Court prosecutor who handled the case, said he has a vague recollection of a case involving a dispute over a highchair, but doesn't recall Bishop specifically.
"If I recommended anger management and probation, it was most likely because there were children involved," said Archilla, who is now a member of the state Parole Board. After hearing details from the police report, Archilla said Bishop's response to the situation at the time "seems inordinate" and would have been a red flag for prosecutors.
On March 16, 2002, Peabody Patrolman David Murphy went to IHOP following a report of a fight that occurred earlier.
The alleged victim, a Peabody woman, was crying and shaking. She told Murphy that Bishop, who was seated in a booth nearby, became angry and swore at her in the crowded restaurant, then punched her.
The incident began when the alleged victim asked for a booster seat and the waitress brought one over. Bishop then asked for one, and she was told by the waitress there were no more, according to the police report.
Bishop said, "But we were here first." The IHOP manager told Peabody police the other woman was seated before Bishop. Bishop was yelling loud enough so everyone in the restaurant could hear, prompting the manager to go to Bishop and tell her she was causing a disturbance and had to leave.
At that point, the alleged victim told police, Bishop went over to her and punched her on the right side of the head.
Bishop left with her children, and the victim followed her out to get her license plate number when Bishop yelled over: "I am Dr. Amy Bishop."
The restaurant manager and the waitress gave police similar statements.
Bishop was gone by the time police arrived and Murphy called her to get her side of the story. Bishop claimed the other woman was the aggressor and "acted like a crazy woman."
Bishop also told Murphy she wanted to take out a complaint against the other woman, but it is not known if that ever happened. When reached last night, the alleged victim's husband said she would have no comment.
A friend of Bishop knew of the incident at IHOP but was told a different version by her.
Hamilton writer Rob Dinsmoor has known Bishop for the past 11 years when they first met in a fiction-writers group.
Dinsmoor said he was told the other mother was shoving Bishop and claimed, "I know the sheriff."
Police summonsed Bishop, and Bishop told Dinsmoor she took out charges on the other woman. A judge persuaded both to drop the charges.
"If she thought she was in the right, she was going to go down fighting," Dinsmoor said.
But Dinsmoor called the allegations stemming from the University of Alabama Huntsville "mind-boggling."
Bishop is being held without bail and is charged with one count of capital murder, which can lead to a death sentence in Alabama if convicted, and three counts of attempted murder.
Dinsmoor said Bishop was upset about not getting tenure. There had been layoffs at the university and she was worried she would lose her job, he said.
"She was at the end of her rope financially with everything going on," Dinsmoor said.
Bishop was also working on a startup biotech company with her husband, Jimmy Anderson, and they were also working on a computer made of live nerve cells.
"A lot of space-age ideas," Dinsmoor said.
Bishop wrote three novels, she shared with Dinsmoor, and was looking to get them published. One novel was told through the point of view of a 12-year-old girl growing up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during the civil strife. The second book was about a female scientist who was also a CIA operative.
Bishop's third novel went along with her work as a neurobiologist. The science-fiction book had to do with genetics and molecular biology. It was called "Amazon" or "Amazon River," Dinsmoor said.
Dinsmoor said he visited her home in Ipswich, where she would host the writers group at times. Bishop would complain to him about her neighbors, the noise and the dirt bikes.
Ipswich residents who lived near Bishop from 1998 to 2003 said she was hostile toward them and their children.
"She did complain about the noise. From what she described, she could not reason with the neighbors," Dinsmoor said. "Her kids were well-behaved.
"Parents who could not control their kids was a pet peeve of hers."
