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State trooper charged with assault on woman outside Dorchester bar

Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff/Globe Staff

A Massachusetts State Police trooper is charged with assault and battery following a disturbance outside a Dorchester bar where he allegedly kicked a woman in her right leg with such force the alleged victim needed emergency medical care, according to official records.

Matthew S. Hickey, 30, is scheduled to be arraigned next Thursday in Dorchester Municipal Court on a single count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, according to the clerk’s office.

Hickey’s defense attorney, Michael Doolin, said the trooper was having dinner with friends when the incident that led to the criminal charge took place.

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“My client is a respected member of the Massachusetts State Police,’’ Doolin said in a telephone interview Friday. “On the night in question, he was out having dinner with friends. It is our position that he did nothing wrong or illegal. We look forward to trying this case in a court of law.”

Hickey was suspended with pay earlier this week, according to State Police spokesman David Procopio, after his superiors learned that he was the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation by Boston police.

“We have no tolerance for the type of conduct that is alleged in the complaint,” said David Procopio. “We have opened an internal affairs investigation and will closely monitor the judicial proceedings. The trooper was suspended earlier this week and we are scheduling a hearing to . . . address his duty status in light of a complaint having issued.”

According to state payroll records, Hickey joined the force in 2016 and through November of this year, has earned $123,719, including $10,317 in overtime and $41,790 in details. He has been assigned to Troop A in the northeast corner of the state and Troop H, which covers the Boston metropolitan area.

According to a redacted Boston police report obtained by the Globe, a woman who was being treated for non-life threatening injuries at Brighton’s St. Elizabeth’s Hospital at about 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 1 reported that she had been assaulted outside Dorset Hall, a bar in the 300 block of Neponset Avenue.

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The woman told police the incident started inside the bar when the man — she did not know his name — and his girlfriend started arguing with the victim and her friend, according to the report. The woman said when she and her friend left the bar, the suspect and his girlfriend followed.

While all four were outside the bar, the woman told police the man “attacked her from behind, grabbed her around her neck and kicked her very hard on the right leg.” While that was happening, the victim said the suspect’s girlfriend was screaming at her, the report said.

After the confrontation, the suspect and his girlfriend ran off, the woman told authorities.

Boston police detectives conducted several interviews in a follow-up investigation and decided to seek criminal charges against Hickey, the report said.

It was not immediately known if police had also charged Hickey’s girlfriend for her alleged role in the incident.


Matt Rochealeau and Emily Sweeney of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. Danny McDonald can be reached at daniel.mcdonald@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Danny__McDonald. John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.