Watertown Police arrested a Dorchester man when he became violent after being stopped for shoplifting at Forever 21 at the Arsenal Project.
On Jan. 23 at 6:08 p.m., police were called to the mall after store security stopped a man who was allegedly working with a former employee to steal merchandise, said Watertown Police Lt. James O’Connor.
A manager spotted the former employee, who had been fire about a week prior, and saw the man going into a changing room with numerous items, but never saw him go to the register to pay, O’Connor said.
The former employee appeared to be working with another man, later identified as Brandon Joseph. When security confronted them, the Joseph got into an argument about security tags. The pair left the store, but Watertown Police located them inside the mall and took them to the store office.
“When officers advised him that they were going to place him under arrest (Joseph) became belligerent and started yelling at the officers,” O’Connor said. “When one of the officers attempted to handcuff the man he struck one of the officers with a closed fist and struck the other officer with a closed fist.
“He attempted to escape by pushing past the officer, but he was caught and arrested.”
Brandon Marcel Joseph, 19, of Dorchester was arrested on two counts of assault and battery on a police officer, shoplifting and resisting arrest.