WESTFIELD – A Huntington man is expected to be arraigned today in Westfield District Court on charges which include home invasion after an incident last night on Frederick Street.
City police received a call at 6:38 p.m. from a Frederick Street resident who reported that two men in an adjacent apartment were creating a disturbance and officers Richard Mazza and Michael Csekovsky arrived within seconds of each other.
Mazza reported that the resident told him that a known man, Paul Z. Dulude, 30, of Huntington, threatened to kill him after he barged into his residence with a meat cleaver.
The suspect had left the area before police arrived and officers were advised of two places to look for him in addition to his home.
Officers sought Dulude at a Springfield Road apartment complex where he reportedly knows a resident and a West Springfield address where he might be found was reported.
He was not found at the apartment complex and West Side officers reported, at 7:34 p.m., that the man’s vehicle had left the address in their city 15-20 minutes earlier.
The Huntington police chief was notified and state troopers from the Russell barracks sought the man at his 8 Rockybrook Drive address.
State Police Sgt. Angel Larriu reports that Dulude was found at his residence but fled into nearby woods.
A State Police spokesperson said that the State Police air wing was deployed to search for him but he was found by a State Police K-9 unit when the dog, “Titan”, tracked Dulude to the pile of leaves he was hiding under.
Dulude was transferred to the custody of Westfield police and he was arrested for assault with a dangerous weapon, home invasion and assault and battery.
There is some confusion about how Dulude was armed when he entered the victim’s second floor apartment.
Although the initial reports indicated that Dulude had been armed with a knife or a cleaver and the specification for the dangerous weapon charge was “hammer/axe”, Capt. Michael A. McCabe reports only that “he was armed with a weapon” and points out that the case is still under investigation.
Csekovsky reports that the victim, Joseph Richard Powell, 29, of 16 Frederick St., was found to be the subject of two outstanding warrants issued by Springfield District Court and he was taken into custody.
