Commonwealth v. Harrison

On May 7, 1971, some 150 to 200 persons met outside the Roxbury Crossing welfare office to demonstrate against welfare and Medicaid policies. A number of police officers were present. There was a scuffle between some of the demonstrators and the police, the details of which remain rather obscure in the abbreviated record before us. As a result of the encounter, one of the group, the defendant Coleman P. Harrison, was indicted for armed robbery (taking a service revolver out of the possession of Officer Thomas Matthews with the threat of a knife) and assault and battery by means of a dangerous…