Man Charged With Trying To Steal Corrections Officer's Car After Attack Held Without Bail

BOSTON (CBS) – The man arrested after an attack on a corrections officer in Boston, accused of trying to steal the victim's car, is being held without bail.

Another man alleged to be involved in the attack, 51-yr-old Sean Stuart, was arrested Friday and charged with aggravated assault and battery.

A surveillance camera captured Thursday morning's assault. The officer was arriving at work at the Suffolk County House of Corrections, making his way through a crowded Atkinson Street when a man allegedly punched him through an open window. The officer gets out to engage the man, and told police he was jumped by multiple people and beaten with a metal pipe.

Torre Jenkins, 45, was arrested afterward on charges of breaking and entering a motor vehicle and attempted larceny of a motor vehicle. In Roxbury District Court on Friday, Jenkins told a judge he was just trying to move the officer's car from a crowded street.

"I didn't steal nothing, I didn't take nothing. I didn't assault nobody," Jenkins said.

A prosecutor said officers with the Boston Public Health Commission saw Jenkins "try to steal the car" but acknowledged that she could not "provide any evidence linking Mr. Jenkins to the group responsible for the physical assault."

His bail was set at $750, but the case caused his bail on a previous case of disorderly conduct to be revoked. Jenkins will be held in Norfolk County, per his lawyer's request.

The corrections officer, who has been at his job for four years, is recovering at home. Court documents identified him as Sabat Tejeda.

Dozens of corrections officers filled the courtroom in a show of support for their colleague.

Boston police arrested 18 more people Thursday night in the area known as "Methadone Mile" during what they called Operation Clean Sweep.

"We obviously hope every, single day we go in there that something could have been done sooner. But all of us can play Monday morning quarterback. We're just trying to work from here on out," said Jonathan Corey, president of the union that represents corrections officers. "Hopefully this is an anomaly, this isn't a regular thing and that we can feel safe going into work."

District Attorney Rache Rollins was among those pledging to address the homelessness that has plague the area.

"I think we have to do more than just sweeps," Rollins said. "I think we have to look at an entire system that isn't working right now."

Also on Friday, Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins called for an emergency meeting with Mayor Marty Walsh, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross and District Attorney Rachael Rollins, who was in the courtroom.

"I am calling for this meeting to happen without delay, because the situation outside of the House of Correction, within the Newmarket Square area and down Melnea Cass Boulevard has become untenable," Tompkins said in a statement. "The health and safety of our officers, staff and guests coming to the House of Correction is clearly in jeopardy, as is that of the other visitors to the area."

Rollins said she, Mayor Marty Walsh and Police Commissioner William Gross will meet with the sheriff next week.