BOSTON (WHDH) - A 47-year-old Salem man pleaded guilty on Friday to multiple charges linked to a violent 2013 incident where prosecutors said he tried to escape Massachusetts Eye and Ear while in the custody Middlesex County sheriff’s deputies, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.
Raymond Wallace had been taken to the hospital on July 31, 2013 after suffering an injury at the Middlesex Jail in Cambridge, officials said. Once at Mass. Eye and Ear, officials said he grabbed for a deputy’s gun.
Officials said one deputy was shot in the leg during the struggle. A second deputy shot Wallace in the chest.
The deputy who was shot survived.
Wallace faced assault and battery, firearms and escape charges after the incident. He was sentenced following his plea and won’t be eligible for parole until at least March 2027, according to the DA.
Hayden reacted to Friday’s sentence in a statement, saying “The brave actions of these two deputies during a violent escape attempt in a crowded downtown Boston hospital likely prevented additional injuries, or even fatalities.”
“Their selfless conduct in performance of their duties—and in protection of the public—deserves enormous praise and thanks, particularly given the toll it has taken on them and their families, as we heard in court today,” Hayden said.
Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian also reacted, calling the 2013 incident “a violent and vicious assault.”
“Officers Sean Lee and Jonathan Persson were escorting Wallace to a routine and scheduled medical appointment,” Koutoujian said. “In an instant, they found themselves under attack by an individual with a violent criminal history.”
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