REVERE, MASS. (WHDH) - An Uber driver who picked up a passenger early Thursday morning was left fearing for his life after police say the East Boston man carjacked the driver and hit a Department of Transportation worker in Revere.
Matthew Ricco Tyre, 29, is being held on $20,000 cash bond following his arraignment in Chelsea District Court on charges including carjacking, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, assault and battery on a police officer, and negligent operation of a motor vehicle.
Tyre climbed into an Uber just after midnight with an open bottle of whiskey and got mad when the driver asked him to put it away, according to the Uber driver who asked not to be named.
“He said, ‘No, no, no. I can do everything in East Boston. My dad is the captain of the Chelsea police,'” the Uber driver recalled.
Tyre allegedly became more aggressive during the ride.
“I just think, if I die, who will tell it to my mom?” the driver questioned.
He told 7News that he pulled the car over in Revere to get out and call 911 when Tyre took off in his car.
“I was just in a T-shirt waiting for the cops and the cops picked me up,” he said.
Tyre soon crashed the stolen car into DOT worker Rick Freni, who was getting out of his truck to assist with an earlier OUI crash on Sargent Street near Route 1, according to state police.
“I reached around to grab my yellow vest before I went out of the car,” he recalled. “Next thing you know, I was faceplanted into the steering wheel.”
The 52-year-old worker suffered minor injuries.
A state trooper took Tyre into custody at the crash scene as he allegedly remained combative.
“The defendant continued to act aggressive, yelling that he himself was a lawyer,” a prosecutor said during Tyre’s Thursday arraignment. “He repeatedly told the troopers that he was the son of a law enforcement official.”
Prosecutors added that Tyre admitted to having four drinks in an hour and took Adderall.
Tyre’s attorney says Tyre has been in the care of a psychiatrist and his medication recently changed.
“This is an absolute aberration,” his attorney said in court. “This man has never been in any trouble at all.”
Tyre is due back in court next month.
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