Court deems man charged in bloody MGH attack 'dangerous'

Boston Herald

Court deems man charged in bloody MGH attack ‘dangerous’

By Laura Crimaldi
Friday, December 4, 2009

A repeat sex offender accused of trying to rape a woman in a Massachusetts General Hospital bathroom put a makeshift “Out of Order” sign on the restroom door as a devious ruse for the twisted ambush, officers said in court today.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Frank Gaziano ordered David Flavell, 40, to be held as a dangerous person until his March 4 trial following the gripping testimony. Flavell is already being held without bail at the Nashua Street Jail after being found competent last month to stand trial.
During a dangerousness hearing, Boston police Detective Sean Joyce testified a witness told him the 27-year-old MGH employee was covered in so much blood after the Oct. 22 attack that she could not discern the woman’s ethnicity.

“She couldn’t tell what nationality she was because she was covered in blood,” Joyce said.
Joyce said the witness, who he identified only as “Jean,” walked into the public restroom after she heard a “blood-curdling scream.”
When she opened the door, she saw the alleged victim leaning against a wall as Flavell stood off to the side leaning over the woman, Joyce said.
The alleged victim sustained a black eye, scratches on her back and shoulder and bruises on her chest and face, Joyce said. He added the chest bruising was a result of Flavell allegedly trying to pin her down with his knee.
Flavell is also accused of slamming the woman’s head against the floor and ripping her pants open. He is facing attempted rape and other charges.
When “Jean” opened the door, the victim said, “He’s trying to hurt me. He’s trying to hurt me,” according to Joyce. He added there were blood droplets and smears on the bathroom walls, stalls and hand dryer as well as human hair and scuff marks on the floor.
Flavell, who is homeless, then allegedly made eye contact with “Jean,” got his backpack and then walked out of the restroom.
“He was very calm, very stoic, walking away as if nothing ever happened,” Joyce said.
Joyce testified a second witness who saw Flavell in the restroom doorway watched him calmly walk away from the bathroom. He was later identified by a crowd of people gathered outside the restroom and detained by MGH officer Antoine Davis.
The makeshift “Out of Order” sign was scrawled on the back of a document about a homeless shelter, Joyce said.
Flavell’s attorney, Neil Madden, said his client is not “aggressive,” did not resist arrest or try to flee the scene.
“He didn’t attempt to blend into the crowd or disappear into the crowd,” Madden said. “I would suggest there’s no premeditated intent there. ... This is a man with some history of psychological problems and sometimes they catch up with him.”
Flavell, dressed in a white T-shirt over a white long-sleeved shirt and orange pants, sat handcuffed with a stamped envelope in his hand. He did not speak in court.

Last year, Flavell made headlines when - armed with duct tape - he followed a female customer of Borders books in Braintree into a store bathroom and tried to crawl under a stall. He later admitted there were sufficient facts for a jury to find him guilty of the crime and received a six-month sentence.
The Borders incident happened two years after Superior Court Judge Richard T. Moses, in 2006, deemed Flavell was not sexually dangerous enough to warrant a civil commitment, despite a record of arrests on sex charges from New Hampshire to Fairhaven that included a conviction with a suspended sentence for masturbating on children’s clothing in a Kmart, and serving 2 1/2 years for assault with intent to rape and assault with a dangerous weapon.
Moses cited the opinions of five medical experts who agreed Flavell was not a threat. Flavell also served a nine-month sentence for exposing himself at Gap stores in Taunton and Canton and a Brooks Pharmacy in Fairhaven.
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