Thread: Illegal alien, 17, ran down hero officer

Cops: Illegal alien, 17, ran down hero officer

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By Franci Richardson
Friday, April 15, 2005

A Salem patrolman decorated for bravery last year is expected to make a full recovery after being struck by a car driven by a 17-year-old illegal immigrant from Brazil who didn't have a license, authorities said.

``I saw the car in front slowly veer to the right and then I saw the officer get hit and saw him flip in the air and land on the sidewalk,'' witness Kathleen Kallama of Topsfield told police after Leila Lopes plowed her friend's 1992 Honda Accord into the officer Wednesday night.

Salem police Officer Michael N. Shea, 39, was working a detail on Tremont Street in Peabody while Keyspan fixed a gas leak when Lopes drove into him at 5 to 10 mph at 10:20 p.m. Responding officers found him unconscious, bleeding from the head.

The Salem native, who is married with four children and is a 17-year police veteran, was flown to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center with head injuries and originally listed in critical condition. By yesterday, his condition was upgraded, a breathing tube was extracted and some of the first words out of his mouth were ``Am I going to make my cruise?''

He was scheduled for a week's vacation beginning Sunday, Salem police Capt. John Jodoin said.

Last year, Shea saved the life of a man who threatened to jump from the Beverly/Salem Bridge.

Lopes, who stands 5 feet and weighs only 98 pounds, appeared distraught as Judge Santo J. Ruma held her without bail at her arraignment at Peabody District Court. She pleaded innocent to unlicensed operation of a car and negligent driving.

Lopes was detained April 4 by the U.S. Office of Immigration and Naturalization after sneaking over the border in Texas with her father, prosecutor Cesar Archilla said. She was released, but ordered back for a hearing.

One Brazilian woman from Newburyport said she visited Lopes shortly after the arrest.

``She just wanted to know how the guy is,'' Viviane Viana, 28, said of Lopes' inquiry into Shea's condition.

Long prison term first then deportation.