The man who forced police into an hourslong armed standoff in the South End Tuesday was ordered held without bail at his arraignment Wednesday in Boston Municipal Court, pending a 20-day evaluation of his mental health.
Ernest Fields, 47, pleaded not guilty to charges of carrying a loaded firearm without a license, carrying a firearm without a license, possessing ammunition without an FID card, carrying a loaded firearm without a license second offense, carrying a dangerous weapon on school grounds, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, and two counts of threat to commit a crime.
He was ordered held on those counts as well as warrants out of Roxbury charging him with an August incident in which prosecutors say he robbed a Dominos at gunpoint.
Fields was sent to Bridgewater State Hospital for a mental health evaluation. His next court appearance is slated for Nov. 9. If he is found competent, he will face a dangerousness hearing.
Fields, who prosecutors said is “well known” to Boston police officers, knelt on the courtroom floor several times Wednesday and grew agitated as a prosecutor described Tuesday’s tense standoff.
Fields has an extensive criminal record, Assistant District Attorney Daniel Nucci said, and he has made a habit of threatening police in recent months, sometimes “walking up to officers, pantomiming a gun with his fingers, making firing sounds towards officers, and referencing suicide by cops.”
A court filing from May describes an encounter where he allegedly approached a police cruiser and pointed his fingers in the shape of a gun at an officer’s head. He was taken for a mental health evaluation after that incident.
Fields was apprehended Tuesday after a seven-hour standoff on Emerson College’s Rotch Field in the South End, during which he repeatedly pointed a loaded .40-caliber handgun at police, according to court records. He was arrested after law enforcement subdued him with “distractionary devices” and “less than lethal rounds” at around 5 p.m., Boston Police Superintendent-in-Chief Gregory Long said Tuesday at the scene.
As the devices were deployed, officers could be seen carrying riot shields and swarming Fields.
He then dropped his firearm and was taken into custody.
A court-ordered clinician who evaluated Fields prior to his arraignment Wednesday told the judge that he had “serious concerns” about his competency. He said Fields went off on tangents about police and the US government.
“Let’s suffice it to say, there was a tone of the government being murderers,” Dr. Jeffrey Miner said. “It was possibly ... bordering on a little bit of what I would call delusions. I have real concerns about this. There was a lot of vehemence in his speech to me.”
He said Fields understands the charges against him but does not believe they are serious.
Tuesday’s standoff began when Fields, who had been walking in the South End at around 9:40 a.m., pulled out a gun as officers who recognized him from the police “most wanted” list attempted to stop him. With their weapons drawn, police told Fields to drop his gun. He refused and ran onto Rotch Field, drawing an intense law enforcement presence that snarled traffic in the South End and on Interstates 93 and 90.
Occupants of nearby buildings were forced to leave and stand behind police tape for hours as Fields waved his gun and shouted at police.
Police officers, SWAT team members, and hostage negotiators maintained a dialogue with Fields throughout the standoff.
A woman who identified herself as his half-sister, Lashena Jones-Butler, waited behind a line of police tape on Albany Street, at times screaming for her brother to calm down.
She said her brother had been homeless for three or four years and had struggled with mental health issues since the deaths of his mother and brother.
“Ever since then he’s been rebelling and going downhill,” Jones-Butler said. “I just hope to God this will get him some help. I mean today he is literally screaming for help.”
Long praised the work of law enforcement officers who responded to the scene.
“It’s been a long day. With patience, time, and restraint … this reached a peaceful ending,” Long said Tuesday.
“It was taxing on our hostage negotiators as well as our SWAT teams. You’re doing everything you can to bring a situation to a peaceful ending. I’ll tell you, it’s the training that they all go through — it was on full display here today,” Long said.
Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report.
Andrew Brinker can be reached at andrew.brinker@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @andrewnbrinker. Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.
Man charged in hourslong South End standoff ordered held without bail pending mental health evaluation - The Boston Globe
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