By Jim Clark

Police officers were dispatched to a Powderhouse Blvd. location on reports of a dispute involving damage to a motor vehicle. Officers en route were advised that the individuals involved were Tufts students and that Tufts Police was already at the location.

Somerville Police officers joined the Tufts officers at the residence and were already standing by in the front yard where three different groups of individuals were separated.

Residents of the building were asked to explain to me what had occurred and they stated that one of them had hired a cleaning company to come to his home and clean as they were preparing the residence for new tenants.

According to the resident, one of the cleaners reported to him that someone was throwing objects at her vehicle which was parked in the driveway from the second floor porch and screaming at her.

The residents went downstairs to see what was going on and attempt to resolve the dispute and found that an individual who was temporarily staying with another of their roommates, Brian Kipchumba, had thrown a brick onto the roof of the cleaner’s vehicle. That’s when the police were called in.

According to reports, Kipchumba appeared to be intoxicated, and he continued to approach officers aggressively and make incoherent statements. The officers escorted him to the front stairs and asked him to sit down as they were concerned that he would fall due to his obvious state of intoxication, but he reportedly refused to sit.

An ambulance was called for to have Kipchumba medically evaluated.

As police attempted to question the cleaner whose car was apparently struck by items thrown by Kipchumba, he suddenly lunged onto the front porch despite officers’ attempts to control his movement.

Kipchumba then began to scream and took a 32-inch flat screen television that had been sitting on the porch and hurled it into the driveway in the direction of the vehicle that was already struck with the brick. The television instead struck a resident’s vehicle causing damage to the front passenger side bumper.

The officers attempted to subdue Kipchumba’s tumultuous behavior and placed him into handcuffs.

The officers were finally able to interview the cleaner, who was visibly shaken. She explained that she was carrying cleaning items from the house into her car which was parked in the driveway. Kipchumba stood on the second floor porch and allegedly began to yell and scream at her incoherently. She said that Kipchumba threw at least two glass bottles and then a brick at her car, which landed on the vehicle’s roof, leaving scratches and a dent. She said that she had no idea why Kipchumba threw the items at her vehicle.

Kipchumba was placed under arrest on charges of malicious wanton defacement of property and disorderly conduct and taken to the police station for booking.

The television destroyed by Kipchumba was his own and the resident victim asked that Brian not be charged for the damage to his vehicle caused by the thrown television.