Revere drag racing leads to shooting

REVERE – Revere’s notorious drag racing problem shifted into overdrive Monday night when a police officer was forced to discharge his firearm at an alleged racer who tried to run him over, police said.Officer Jose M. Prochilo-Garvey had no choice but to fire a round from his service revolver outside Dunkin’ Donuts near the Wharf restaurant on Route 1A southbound shortly before 11 p.m. Monday, according to police.After the shot rang out, the suspect, Jesus M. Liria, 20, of 35 Graves Ave., Lynn, drove away. Police found him about an hour later at Salem Hospital with his parents by his bedside as he was treated for a gunshot wound to his right leg.Police charged Liria with assault with intent to murder and assault with a dangerous weapon (his car). He was arraigned Wednesday in Chelsea District Court where Judge James Wexler dropped the charge of assault with intent to murder. The judge released Liria and ordered him back in court March 12 for a pre-trial hearing.Immediately after the shooting, police seized the officer’s service revolver and a shell casing found on the ground for evidence. Prochilo-Garvey is not working street patrols for the time being, according to Revere police spokesperson Capt. Michael Murphy.”The involved officer has been assigned to desk duty pending the outcome of an investigation into this matter,” Murphy said.Revere police deal with drag racers every weekend and often find them congregating at fast food restaurants open late at night. The city’s vast amount of parkways make it a haven for illegal racing, which caught the attention of State Sen. Anthony Galluccio in December.The senator proposed a $1,000 fine and up to two and a half years in prison for those caught drag racing.”Drag racing has been a pervasive problem in our community that has led to a number of tragedies,” Galluccio said, citing 2005 statistics that included a double-fatal accident on May 20, 2005, which left car parts strewn across the parking lot of Eagle Heights Church on Revere Beach Parkway.According to a police report filed by Prochilo-Garvey, shortly before the shooting, the officer received a report of drag racers in the area of Mt. Vernon Restaurant at the Wharf as he was traveling northbound on North Shore Road (Rte. 1A). The officer eventually reversed direction and as he came upon the large group of vehicles in the parking lot, many of them began to drive away southbound at a high rate of speed, he said.Prochilo-Garvey said he was able to pull over two of the cars and placed his cruiser in front of the two vehicles after they came to a stop on the side of North Shore Road.However, a few seconds after Prochilo-Garvey exited his cruiser, the second vehicle that was in the rear began to back up into oncoming traffic, he said. The officer jumped back into his vehicle and followed the moving car, which backed all the way into the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot, the officer said.Once in the parking lot, Prochilo-Garvey says he placed his cruiser in front of the suspect vehicle so it couldn’t drive away. He then noticed a Honda Civic Coupe in the Dunkin’s drive-thru lane, allegedly operated by Jesus Liria. For reasons not fully explained in the police report, Prochilo-Garvey left the suspect vehicle and walked toward Liria’s car.Prochilo-Garvey says he walked toward the Honda in order to identify it. As he stood in front of the Honda and shined his flashlight on it, with the jersey barriers behind him, the car allegedly sped forward directly at him without its headlights on.The officer then fired a single gunshot into the front fender of the vehicle, police said.Prochilo-Garvey said the vehicle was moving at an “unreasonable rate of speed” and fired the weapon to “prevent bodily harm to myself.” He yelled at the operator to stop and feared for his safety, police said.The Honda then fled southbound on North Shore Road. Prochilo-Garvey says he saw the vehicle a short time later on Oak Island Street, but he and other police units, inclu