A member of well known Western Massachusetts golf family was scheduled to be arraigned today on charges including assault with intent to murder.
Jay T. DiRico was arraigned in Chicopee District Court and also charged with assault and battery on a police officer with serious injury; assault and battery on a police officer; domestic assault and battery; assault and resisting arrest.
DiRico retired from the Massachusetts Trial Court in December 2005. He still receives a court officer pension totaling more than $3,500 monthly, according to a 2009 state pension report published in the Boston Herald. His father Tom DiRico is director of golf at Chicopee Municipal Golf Course.
According to The Republican newspaper of Springfield, Mass., DiRico, 40, of Chicopee, is accused of attacking Officer Jeffrey Couture after the patrolman intervened in a Sunday afternoon dispute between DiRico and an unidentified woman. Couture had responded to a keep-the-peace call.
“He had (Couture) on the ground and kept punching him in the head,” Chicopee Deputy Police Chief William R. Jebb said, adding that the officer was treated for serious facial injuries at Baystate Medical Center.
DiRico, a top amateur golfer and former golf club pro in western Massachusetts, apparently is also a mixed martial artist, Jebb said.
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