A Boston man is in hot water for allegedly hijacking a truck containing $10,000 worth of lobsters, a move that ended in a three-vehicle crash.
Around 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday, overnight workers were loading lobsters into a box truck when police say a thief emerged from the darkness, jumped into the truck’s cab, and drove away. The driver of the Buy New England Lobsters truck, seeing his vehicle speeding away, jumped into his personal vehicle and began to chase the man.
The suspect, 29-year-old Stephen Woodward, made it about a half mile before the driver of the lobster truck turned his vehicle in front of the hijacked truck, causing a crash. A third individual driving a second lobster truck then slammed his lobster company truck into the rear end of the stolen one.
While the crustacean-laden truck was sandwiched between the two other vehicles, employees of the company were able to claw their way to Woodward, whom they detained.
“The suspect refused to stop but instead deliberately crashed the stolen truck into the second box truck. The employees of the lobster company were able to detain the suspect until police arrived on scene,” a police report reads.
When officers arrived, they found Woodward with a bloodied and injured face. He was taken to the hospital and, according to police, threatened to kill an officer who was keeping watch over him.
The heist occurred in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, whose criminal history was noted in the 2010 crime thriller The Town, which claimed the “neighborhood has produced more bank robbers and armored car thieves than anywhere in the world.”
Peter Lagorio, Buy New England Lobsters’s sales and marketing manager, told Boston Magazine that the incident is the first lobster theft he has had to deal with.
“It’s probably the most Boston thing that’s ever happened,” Lagorio said. “It was a very Boston experience for everyone involved.”
Woodward was charged with receiving a stolen motor vehicle, operating on a revoked or suspended license, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and threats to commit harm.
