Police said the suspect was flailing a pink jacket at the geese.
EAST LONGMEADOW - Police said they arrested an 18-year-old Springfield man, who attracted their attention Sunday morning when he was spotted harassing geese at Heritage Park, after they determined that he had a warrant for his arrest.
“He was flailing a pink jacket at the geese to get them to fly off,” Sgt. Patrick M. Manley said of arrestee Giovanni Oliver, of 11 Brunswick St., Springfield.
Oliver was one of several people who arrived at the park shortly after 10 a.m. and began chasing geese.
Manley said the warrant had been issued out of juvenile court in Springfield when Oliver was a minor. He did not know what the warrant was for.
Oliver made the news last September when he, along with two other suspects, allegedly stole 17 tubes of toothpaste at gunpoint from a CVS pharmacy on Belmont Street in Springfield.
The store supervisor noticed the three suspects carrying backpacks and stealing merchandise. When the man confronted the teens one suspect showed him a handgun and all three fled, Springfield Police Sgt. John M. Delaney said.
Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said police officers spotted the trio walking on Belmont Avenue near Longfellow Terrace. When officers stopped the suspects for questioning they fled. Officers chased the teens on foot and state police used a helicopter and the K-9 unit to catch them. Police caught two of the suspects.
One was a 16-year-old minor and the other was Oliver. He was charged with shoplifting, assault with a handgun, resisting arrest and assault and battery on a police officer.
Oliver denied the charges last September in district court. That case is still pending and a pre-trial hearing has been set for May 17.