LYNN — A son of Essex County Sheriff Kevin Coppinger has been charged for a 2020 fight with a Lynn Police recruit that left the recruit with serious facial injuries, according to a police report obtained from Salem District Court.
The defendant, also named Kevin Coppinger, 25, was charged with one count each of assault and battery causing serious bodily injury (a felony) and assault and battery (a misdemeanor).
The Lynn Police recruit, Paul Halas Jr., 25, has also been charged in the 2020 fight; Halas faces a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery, court documents show.
Both men were scheduled to be arraigned in Salem District Court on Wednesday, but the arraignment was rescheduled to June 21, at the request of Coppinger’s attorney, who cited a scheduling conflict.
The Essex District Attorney’s office said it had transferred this case to the Norfolk District Attorney’s office to avoid a conflict of interest. The Norfolk DA’s office said it filed an application for criminal charges in May 2021, and then moved the case to Salem District Court, where a clerk magistrate determined on Feb. 28 there was probable cause to issue complaints against both men.
According to court documents, Coppinger told police that he, his girlfriend, and Halas were driving home from Salem on Aug. 29, 2020. Coppinger said Halas wanted to visit his own girlfriend’s house, but she did not want to see him.
Coppinger said that when he told Halas he was taking him home, the former police recruit became violent; Halas allegedly started to attack Coppinger, by throwing punches at the back of his head, the police report said.
Coppinger’s girlfriend, who was driving the vehicle, pulled over at Quinn and Martin roads; it was there that Coppinger and Halas exited the vehicle and began fighting in the street, Coppinger said, according to the report. Coppinger told police that he and his girlfriend brought Halas home to his residence at 21 Martin Road after the altercation.
Police later received a call for a disturbance shortly before 12:30 a.m., at the intersection where the fight took place. When officers arrived at the scene, a man pointed them in the direction of a home on Martin Road. The two officers said they saw a woman enter 21 Martin Road, and when they knocked on the door, a woman opened the door, and then stepped onto the front porch to shut it, the report said.
When the door was closing, the two officers saw a young man lying on the floor of the house and asked to enter the home. The woman, Halas’ mother, was hesitant, but brought the officers inside, where they found Halas on the floor with serious injuries to his face.
Police asked Coppinger and his girlfriend, who were still at the scene, for comment. Coppinger told police, according to the report, that Halas was his best friend and he regretted that the fight had taken place.
Coppinger is also quoted in the report as saying that he did not want the altercation to impact Halas’ enrollment in the police academy or status as a Lynn Police recruit. Coppinger said he would take responsibility for what had happened, the report said.
Halas’ father was seen trying to calm his son down, while wiping down his face. Halas was sitting on the kitchen floor, yelling obscenities and two racial slurs, and saying that his face had been mangled, the report said.
One officer said in the report that he thought Halas was intoxicated, because he was slurring his words. However, the officer could not smell alcohol on Halas, the report said.
Emergency medical responders (EMS) from Atlantic Ambulance responded to evaluate Halas, and transported him to Salem Hospital for further treatment, the report said.
Essex County Sheriff Kevin Coppinger told the Salem News in an email Wednesday that he believes his son will be cleared, once the facts of this case are presented in court.
