More Details Emerge About the Death of Weymouth Officer Michael Chesna, and They're Heartbreaking
To echo what Dave said last night about the End of Watch of Weymouth police officer Michael Chesna, any time an officer dies in the line of duty, it’s a tragedy that should be felt by anyone with an appreciation for the way they put their lives on the line to protect us. Every minute of every shift. Even, as Officer Chesna did, 30 minutes before the end of his shift, on a sleepy Sunday morning in a quiet section of my ancestral homeland. Though, as it is with Dave, Chesna’s death is personal, since I grew up less than a mile from where he gave is life to protect others.
And when you learn more about the man, it’s even more heart-wrenching. He leaves behind a wife and two children, aged nine and four. He was an Army veteran from the 10th Mountain Division who served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today would have been his sixth anniversary on the force. He graduated from Weymouth High and joined the police department to serve the town he grew up in, once saying he would have no problem arresting an old classmate if he had to. “I have a job to do, and my job is no different than if my classmate was a dentist,” he said. “If that is what your job is, you do it.” And it’s to that community he gave what Lincoln once called his “last full measure of devotion.”
As for the woman who was killed, she was sitting in her sun room on a Sunday morning. Shot through her window with a stray bullet from the gun the murderer had stolen from Officer Chesna. The cliche is to say she was “in the wrong place at the wrong time,” but in this case nothing could be further from the truth. She was exactly where anyone should be. Peacefully enjoying her morning on the kind of quiet, Oak-lined suburban street where kids ride bikes and neighbors walk their dogs. When her life was cut short by random act of unfathomable violence. A completely innocent bystander who found herself in the path of a bullet fired by a cop killing pile of shit. From last October:
A 19-year-old homeless man was caught selling cocaine to minors in North Weymouth Monday night and then fled from officers who attempted to search him, police said.
Emanuel Lopes was arrested and charged with possession to distribute cocaine to a minor, possession to distribute cocaine and resisting arrest.
Around 5:30 p.m., police received a call from someone who said they just witnessed a drug deal. …
When officers arrived they found five males and one female, who all appeared to be minors, near an abandoned beach house. There were multiple open alcoholic beverages on the ground within arm’s reach of the teens, a police report on the incident states.
The officers began to pat frisk them and noticed that Lopes appeared nervous, was fidgeting around and sweating.
Police said they know Lopes from dealing with him the past. “We have fought with him before,” the report states.
And so, because one evil, amoral leech who sells coke to minors and has a history of violence towards cops didn’t want to get taken into custody for the 100th time in his miserable, worthless existence, two lives have ended. One an older woman minding her own business in the comfort of her home. The other, a family man who’d dedicated his life to protecting Americans, at home and overseas. And a community grieves because we’ve lost two of the kinds of people we need more of and still have way too many wastes-of-life like Emanuel Lopes.
So once again, please help. In the over a dozen years I’ve been with Barstool, such moments have brought out the very best in Stoolies. And this will be no exception. 100% of profits goes to the family of Officer Chesna.
And I’ll be part of a comedy show benefit at the Weymouth Elks on Thursday night, July 26th. Tickets will be available at the door and all proceeds will go to the Chesnas. God bless.