SAUGUS, Mass. — Three Massachusetts police officers conducting a stolen vehicle investigation Thursday morning were stabbed or slashed by the suspect but are expected to be OK, authorities said.
The Saugus officers responded to a home in town at about 7:30 a.m. to investigate a report of a U-Haul rental vehicle that had not been returned, according to a statement from Chief Michael Ricciardelli.
The suspect, identified as Steven Sossong, 43, refused to leave the home so the officers entered, according to the statement. There was an altercation and the officers were injured.
The injuries were to the officer’s “extremities,” Assistant Chief Ron Giorgetti said.
The officers were brought to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston with non-life-threatening injuries. A fourth Saugus officer was transported to the hospital for precautionary reasons, state police said in a statement.
As of Thursday night, they had all been discharged from the hospital and were back home with their families.
Sossong faces four counts each of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a police officer. He was also taken to the hospital.
A judge sent Sossong for a mental health evaluation at a psychiatric hospital after a mental health professional said his answers to her questions did not make sense.
A neighbor, JoAnn Canole, says police had been to Sussong’s home about a year and a half ago.
“He was yelling at them for quite a while and giving them a hard time but they handled it really well,” said Canole. “They didn’t arrest him even though he was threatening them at the time.”
Sussong is due back in court on Aug. 25.
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