Police: Panhandler shook down man, 55, over cigarettes

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September 8, 2010

By Julie Manganis Staff writer The Salem News Wed Sep 08, 2010, 12:17 AM EDT

BEVERLY — Call this one a case of extreme panhandling.

A 32-year-old Beverly man was arrested on assault and battery and other charges Saturday evening at the Beverly Depot commuter rail stop, after police say he ripped the pocket off a man's shirt in an attempt to get the man's cigarettes.

John Reddy Jr. of 24 Arthur St. was ordered held on $500 bail in Salem District Court yesterday, following his arraignment on charges that also include resisting arrest, attempting to commit a crime and being disorderly.

His victim, Lawrence Misuraca, 55, was in no mood to deal with an aggressive panhandler as he waited for a train to begin his trip home to Newton — he had just been discharged from Beverly Hospital after an appendectomy.

But he said he humored the drunken Reddy.

"I had just got out of the hospital," said Misuraca, a former Beverly resident. "I didn't really want to bother with him. I gave him a cigarette and a dollar to make him go away."

Reddy rode off on a bike, said Misuraca, who watched him approach people walking to their cars.

Then he was back, looking for more cigarettes.

"I only had one cigarette left and just enough money on me to get back to Auburndale," said Misuraca, an advertising representative. He turned him down.

Reddy wasn't taking no for an answer, demanding another cigarette, even telling Misuraca he owed him, Misuraca said.

Then, Misuraca said, "He grabbed me." Reddy allegedly tore off the pocket of Misuraca's T-shirt, where he kept his nearly empty pack of cigarettes.

An employee at The Beverly Depot restaurant called 911.

Police say Reddy was no more polite when they caught up with him on Wallis Street. It took two blasts of pepper spray to get him into a police cruiser, prosecutor Patrick Collins said, and then a third blast at the police station after he refused to cooperate with officers.

Collins said Reddy was "completely out of control" at the police station.

Reddy's lawyer, William O'Hare, acknowledged that his client was "intoxicated" but denied that he was aggressive.

"There's an older fellow who was afraid of my client," O'Hare suggested. He says Reddy just wanted another cigarette.

"Alcohol is certainly an issue in his life, and not a good one," O'Hare said, "but to detain him in this case, as Roger Clemens might say, is a mispunishment." O'Hare suggested that Judge Dunbar Livingston release his client so he can start his new job as a cook at a detox facility.

It wasn't clear whether Reddy made the $500 bail set by Livingston yesterday. He's due back in court Oct. 1.

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Police: Panhandler shook down man, 55, over cigarettes

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