Police release video of Mass. lawmaker, John Lawn, drunken driving arrest near State House
By: Boston, MA - Newly released police body camera footage shows the arrest of state representative John Lawn last month.
Boston Police Department body cam footage from the early morning hours of July 16 captured the moments after Lawn hit a parked car on Hancock Street.
Lawn can be seen stumbling around, slurring his words and even dropping his driver’s license as he handed it over to officers.
Lawn refused to take a breathalyzer.
State Rep. John J. Lawn was arrested in the area of Beacon and Bowdoin streets around 1:45 a.m. and charged with operating under the influence of liquor and leaving the scene of property damage, a Boston Police Department spokesman told Boston 25 News.
Lawn is a Democrat who represents the state’s 10th Middlesex District, which includes the communities of Newton, Waltham, and Watertown. He also chairs the Committee on Health Care Financing.
A concerned bystander alerted police to Lawn after witnessing him crash into a parked vehicle and run stop signs in the area, a police report obtained by Boston 25 stated. When officers later tracked down Lawn, they found him parked in his heavily damaged vehicle.
Lawn admitted to the facts in the case before a judge ordered his driver’s license to be taken away for 45 days and ordered him to pay fines and undergo treatment for alcohol.