Revere Fire Captain Arrested After Alleged Trick-Or-Treat Assaults
REVERE (CBS) – A veteran Revere fire captain was arrested on Friday night, charged with multiple counts of assault after an incident that took place during trick-or-treating in the city.
Carl Holmberg, 44, was arrested and charged with three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and one count of assault and battery on a child with injury, Revere police said on Saturday. He is being suspended with pay pending a disciplinary hearing.
No life-threatening injuries occurred during the alleged assaults, which involved an 11-year-old victim. Police did not reveal the nature of the incident.
Holmberg's wife said her husband was only trying to defend his family while out trick-or-treating with his 6-year-old child.
Serena Holmberg said 15 to 20 youths threatened the family after her husband told some kids to stop banging on cars.
"It was chaos and mayhem," she said. "I saw my husband fall, they were jumping on him."
Serena Holmberg said she called police to report her husband being attacked.
But there is another side to the story.
"That's all false," said Manny, the stepfather of an 11-year-old injured in the incident. "Ten young black kids.. were basically preyed upon by a man with a golf club."
Neighbors said it was a wild scene.
"All I could see was a bunch of police out there, couple of plain-clothed guys, an ambulance. . . I think there was someone laying on the ground," neighbor Paul Sek said.
Holmberg said he did have a golf club with him at the time to protect himself from neighborhood pit bulls.
Holmberg is a fire captain in the Revere Fire Department and has 15 years of service with no prior incidents, police added. He posted bail and is set to appear in court on Monday.
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