BOSTON (WHDH) - Scores of law enforcement officers lined the route to the medical examiner’s officer Sunday as the body of Officer Michael Chesna was transported to Boston.
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On Monday, residents from across the Bay State could be seen visiting a growing memorial at the Weymouth Police Department as Chesna’s body was escorted from Boston to a local funeral home.
“He was a compassionate, loving, kind person,” a tearful Maria Danahy said. “We’re all going to miss him. He was a very good man.”
Chesna was pronounced dead at South Shore Hospital Sunday, hours after he was shot and killed while responding to a report of an erratic motorist Sunday morning, Weymouth Police Chief Rick Grimes said.
Chesna was an Army veteran and a six-year veteran of the department, who was married with two children, ages 4 and 9, Grimes said at an afternoon press conference.
Emmanuel Lopes, 20, who was arrested and charged with two counts of murder, had been driving erratically as officers tried to pull him over, according to authorities. He then crashed into another car near South Shore Hospital and fled on foot toward Burton Terrace.
As Lopes tried to escape from officers, police said he attacked Chesna with a rock, commandeered his firearm and shot him multiple times in the head and neck.
Bill Malono, the father of a Weymouth officer who was close with Chesna but happened to be off Sunday, says the tragic death left him shaken.
“I was in tears,” he said. “That was his area too when he is working.”
The outpouring of support for Chesna went well beyond city lines. Residents from Quincy, Stoughton and many other communities felt obligated to pay their respects.
A sign for Officer Chesna left at the #Weymouth police department @7News pic.twitter.com/wh62IXnXsG
— John Cuoco (@JCuocoNews) July 16, 2018
Young Christopher Dumas, dressed in a firefighter uniform, visited the department with his mother Siobhan and placed flowers at the memorial.
“It’s scary because that’s his dream of being one of the first responders,” Siobhan said of her son. “You have to think about that for his future.”
Anyone wishing to make a donation to the Chesna family can make checks payable to the “OFFICER MICHAEL CHESNA FAMILY FUND.” The checks can be mailed or dropped off at the Weymouth police station. An account has since been set up at Equitable Bank.
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