Boston Blotter: BPD Mishandles Police Misconduct

-- An independent panel released a report today that accuses the Boston Police Department of shoddy police work, when it comes to policing itself. The panel ruled that five police misconduct cases out of 19 that it reviewed had been mishandled. Witnesses had been intimidated or ignored and leaps of logic had been used to clear cops in those cases, which the panel recommends be reexamined. The panel was formed after a 2004 incident in which a cop shot a college student to death outside of Fenway Park. The panel's findings validate some of the concerns of citizen groups who believe that police misconduct goes unpunished in Boston. [Globe]

-- Two New Bedford cops who shot a knife-wielding suspect to death last May were cleared by the Bristol County District Attorney of any wrongdoing. [Herald]

-- On Friday, August 8, Their Popular Mayor, Joe Curtatone of Somerville, stopped a fight, summoned the cops, and saw one man arrested. [Somerville Journal]

-- A 16-year-old Cambridge boy was stabbed in the face Saturday on Columbia Street by an acquaintance, police say. The victim's wounds were superficial, and no arrests have been made. [Cambridge Chronicle]

-- One of the two teens who accused a Marshfield carnival worker of rape has recanted her story. [Globe]

All charges alleged until proven under law.