A Boston judge has released a man who was charged with assaulting a police officer in connection with a tirade at a Dorchester polling place over food, which he said he was “entitled to” because President Trump took away his SNAP benefits.
Boston Municipal Court Judge Rebecca Figueroa has ordered Richard Futrell, 46, to stay away from a poll worker who initially informed him that he couldn’t indulge in a buffet prepared for voting officials at Metropolitan Baptist Church.
Boston Police officers monitoring the polls at the church arrested Futrell around 12:45 p.m. Tuesday after subduing the Election Day chaos.
The poll worker told responding officers that Futrell “stepped in her face and continued to verbally berate her” after she told him that he couldn’t help himself to a plate of food. She said she felt “intimidated” and feared that the suspect “might ‘do something,’” according to an incident report, obtained by the Herald.
A voter waiting to cast a ballot also told officers that she had to “stand back” as Futrell allegedly confronted the poll worker, who had at that point taken away the plate of food that the man had prepared for himself at the buffet.
“The suspect then grew more agitated and continued to rant about President Trump taking away his government assistance and that he is entitled to said food,” the incident report states, “which continued to create more shock and alarm among the crowd in the room.”
Voting officials demanded that Futrell leave the polling place, but that only fired the man up even more. He allegedly blocked a doorway, preventing other voters from entering the building.
“At this point,” the incident report states, “the suspect had willfully and without lawful authority interfered with, as well as delayed, the voters’ ability to access the poll location.”
From there, Futrell allegedly grew combative with officers who ordered him to leave as he refused to do so and reportedly “began recording officers.” The man also allegedly “aggressively” yelled at officers, one of whom felt that he was being spit on.
Futrell then allegedly pushed an officer who had started to direct the man out of the doorway before he began to actively resist arrest, according to the incident report. Officers eventually placed the man into handcuffs after a struggle.
Prosecutors from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office requested a $1,000 bail for Futrell, who faces charges of assault and battery on a police officer, disturbing a public assembly, interfering with an election official, interfering with a voter and resisting arrest.
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