WILMINGTON, MA — Kevin MacDonald, 56, of Wilmington, was arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, and threatening to commit a crime on Saturday.
The weapon MacDonald used in these alleged crimes? An excavator.
According to police, MacDonald was the one who called the station, requesting an officer issue no trespass orders to construction workers he felt were encroaching on to his Andover Street property.
When an officer responded, MacDonald reportedly presented him with a printed email from the Town’s Director of Planning and Conservation and asked that he halt the construction the workers were performing. The officer responded that he could not halt the construction or enforce any directives in the email. MacDonald then requested to speak with a sergeant, who called MacDonald and reiterated what the officer previously stated.
According to the officer, MacDonald was not listening to the sergeant and was “acting unreasonable” during the conversation. MacDonald kept asking the police to “do your jobs.”
After the phone conversation, one of the construction workers reportedly came over to speak with the police officer. The worker stated that MacDonald had been interrupting his work all morning. Another construction worker — who was operating a mini Bobcat excavator “on top a very steep hill and teetering close to the edge of a cliffside” — told the officer that MacDonald had threatened him earlier in the day. MacDonald allegedly told the worker would push his excavator off the hill. MacDonald later denied saying that.
According to the report, the officer then walked over to retrieve the no trespass paperwork, which MacDonald had placed in a large excavator that he owned. According to the report, MacDonald then jumped into his excavator and began moving its hydraulic arm very quickly and aggressively. The officer yelled to MacDonald to get out of the excavator, but MacDonald continued to move the arm. MacDonald moved the arm in the direction of the officer and dropped a bucket in front of him, which necessitated the officer to take a few steps to avoid being struck. The bucket came within inches to the officer’s chest and feet.
The officer then radioed in for another cruiser.
According to the officer, MacDonald continued to operate the excavator. MacDonald moved its hydraulic arm and struck the hydraulic arm of one of the construction worker’s excavators, which was on the edge of the hill.
“If Mr. MacDonald had applied more pressure with his excavator, the [construction worker] could have fallen over the steep cliff on the other side,” wrote the officer in his report.
MacDonald then, according to the officer, swung the hydraulic arm again and dropped the bucket in the direction of another construction worker, who had to take a few steps back to avoid getting hit. The bucket was inches from grazing his foot.
According to the report, the officer’s backup arrived and witnessed MacDonald continue to move the hydraulic arm erratically. The backup officer yelled to MacDonald to get out of the excavator. MacDonald yelled that he wanted the officers to look at the hole he had dug and the exposed wires in it. The initial officer on the scene again asked MacDonald to exit the construction vehicle. MacDonald eventually exited the excavator and, as he was showing the printed email to the backup officer, he was placed in handcuffs by the first responding officer on the scene.
MacDonald was reportedly “very uncooperative” once arrested. He “pretended to be unconscious” when he arrived at the police station. When an officer shook him, MacDonald stated that he didn’t know where he was or how he had arrived. Officers were unable to properly finish booking MacDonald due to his behavior.
MacDonald, a well-known Wilmington resident, has run for local office in six of the last eight town elections. He did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
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