Davis said the sergeant then got out of the cruiser.
“He got in my face, chest to chest, nose to nose, trying to piss me off. I explained our business and [the officer] returned to his vehicle.”
However, the students say they then noticed the officer following them on their walk down Commonwealth Avenue. Davis recalls that members of the group then made offensive comments to the officer for pulling over just to make Leahy cry.
When the group of students reached an intersection at South Street, a second squad car cut in front of them.
In his report, Byrne said he arrested Trombly.
But Davis and Good say two more officers came out and, following the orders of the sergeant, arrested Trombly, pinning him to the front hood of the second cruiser. Good claims that his client said nothing in the process and did not resist. By the students’ account, prior to his arrest, Trombly had not even directly exchanged words with any of the officers.
In the midst of the commotion, Davis said he approached Byrne.
“I said, ‘What did [Trombly] do? I want to file a complaint! How do I do that? How do I bail him out?’” Davis said. “The sergeant said, “Oh, so you wanna be a wise guy?’ and arrested me.”
Both students were placed in the back of the other officers’ cruiser and taken back to the station. Davis recalls one of the two officers saying, “Sergeant’s pretty pissed off tonight. I wouldn’t [expletive] with him.”
The day after the arrests, Davis said, a police cruiser passed slowly by his home once every five minutes. And while taking a walk with a friend that day, he saw two cruisers parked at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Foster Street, less than half a block from his home.
Davis said these frequent passings only stopped when Swomley brought them to the attention of the court the next day at the arraignment.
According to a BPD press release, the Trombly and Davis arrests were grouped by the BPD under their “Cops in Shops” program that is aimed at deterring underage drinking.
Trombly is of legal drinking age.
Several television news agencies, including WCVB Channel 5, were present at the arraignment of more than 30 students in the Brighton Municipal Courthouse on Sept. 10. A staffer at WCVB’s assignment desk said they picked up the story after receiving a BPD release.
“These sweeps are all orchestrated to have a public relations strategy,” Good said. “They grab a lot of people, and try to deter underage drinking. But several people got arrested who did nothing. This is an abuse.”
At his arraignment, Trombly pleaded not guilty.
Trombly’s next court date is Oct. 25.
—Staff writer Joseph P. Flood contributed to the reporting of this article.
—Staff writer Justin D. Gest can be reached at gest@fas.harvard.edu.