BRAINTREE, Mass. — The South Shore motel where a Braintree officer was shot earlier this year is fighting to stay open.
Braintree officials said the Motel 6 place has been nothing but problems for years. It all came to a head in May when a Braintree police officer was shot in the face while trying to pick someone up on a warrant.
Town officials moved to pull the Union Street motel license back in May, following the shooting.
Citing an unusually high number of police calls at the motel in recent years -- the town's board of health voted to revoke the motel's license last Thursday.
The motel immediately asked a civil court judge to intervene and allow them to stay open, claiming the town's board of health overstepped its authority by revoking the license with no specific health or sanitation concern.
The attorney for Motel 6 argues in the complaint the 1,700 calls for service by Braintree police over the last five years come down to 35 incidents involving crimes of violence.
"This is not a property with a great deal of person on person or so called violent crime," said the lawyer.
The motel also claims the town's decision to revoke its license, "rested upon nothing more than whimsy or idiosyncratic notions of the town of Braintree's grand redevelopment plan."
The motel is asking the town to be reimbursed for lost business as well.
>>MORE: Police: Officer shot in Braintree at Motel 6, suspect found dead
Braintree Mayor Joe Sullivan said the town has bent over backward trying to address ongoing problems at the Motel 6.
>>MORE: Braintree Motel 6 where officer was shot closing to 'make improvements'
"I would argue that it is a health issue. The public safety and public health is threatened by the current operations of Motel 6,” said Sullivan.
The judge is expected to make a decision this week.
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
