WESTFIELD – A juvenile Birch Bluffs Drive resident was arrested early Friday morning while apparently attempting to make his escape after breaking into Westfield High School for an apparent senior prank.
City police responded at 3:22 a.m. Friday to multiple motion alarms at the school and the first four officers to arrive established a perimeter to contain any intruders as they waited for the arrival of a school official to help them search the school.
Officer Andrew Vega reports that the searchers found shoe prints in what appeared to be cooking oil which was coating stairways, floors and many other surfaces on the second floor and found a second floor classroom with an open window.
Vega reports that the window looks over a single-story portion of the building so is accessible from the roof of that part of the school. The screen on the widow had been cut and the window had been forcibly opened, apparently with a screwdriver found in the classroom.
Also found in the classroom were a backpack and 14 cans – apparently empty – of aerosol cooking oil.
No suspect was found in the building but one of the officers searching the school reported that he had heard what sounded to be someone running on the roof.
After the building was thoroughly checked, officers searched for suspects outside the school but found nobody.
Most of the officers were released to respond to other calls for service but the street supervisor, Sgt. Jeffrey Baillargeon, remained in the area and reports he discovered a vehicle parked on Furrowtown Road which did not appear to be associated with any of the nearby residences.
Unable to reach the registered owner of the vehicle, Baillargeon remained in sight of the brown 2002 Toyota Camry until the lights of a passing vehicle illuminated a person emerging from the tree line.
Baillargeon observed the car’s parking lights illuminate and he saw a person get into it. When the car started to leave, the officer revealed himself and stopped the vehicle.
He reports that when he approached the car he immediately saw that the young man was soaking wet and his clothing was liberally decorated with grass, leaves and woodland debris.
Baillargeon also observed a backpack, as wet and bedraggled as the occupant, which had not been in the car when he initially examined it
He noted that, although the undergrowth in the area had been soaked by earlier rains, no rain had fallen recently.
The 17-year-old youth, a senior at the school, told Baillargeon that he had been visiting a friend but was unable to provide his friend’s name or address.
Baillargeon inspected soles of the boots the young man was wearing and reports that they appear to match the footprints found in the cooking oil on the floor of the school.
The juvenile boy, who will celebrate is 18th birthday in June and thus became an adult, was taken into custody.
The car was towed to a police impound yard but a pre-tow inventory revealed that the backpack contained gloves, rope and a ski mask.
The boy was arrested for being delinquent by reason of breaking and entering a building in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony and for vandalizing property.
He is expected to be arraigned in Holyoke Juvenile Court.
