Shrewsbury Police officers were deployed on the Police Lake Patrol Boat to investigate the theft of two jet skis | Photo courtesy of the Shrewsbury Police Department used as a reference for the storyOn the morning of August 27th, 2023, around 2:18 AM, the Shrewsbury Police Department received a distress call from a resident of Worcester.
The caller reported the theft of two jet skis from their dock at a residence by Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester.
According to a statement from the local police, the suspect was spotted on a boat near Norcross Point in Shrewsbury, with the stolen jet skis secured to the side of the vessel.
In response to the incident, officers were dispatched to investigate. Shrewsbury Police Officers Mattero and VanWagoner took action, embarking on the police boat to initiate a search for the suspect. After a short period, they located a man aboard a boat in the vicinity between Bay View Drive and Canna Drive.
According to the police statement, as the officers approached the suspect’s boat with the intention of boarding, the individual’s behavior turned aggressive; he began shouting and launched a physical assault against the officers. He even commanded a dog on his boat to attack the officers. To regain control of the situation and subdue the assailant, one of the officers deployed a Taser. During the ensuing struggle, the suspect managed to wrest the Taser from an officer’s possession and used it as a weapon against them. At a critical moment, the suspect brandished an object and falsely claimed it was a firearm, further escalating the danger. One officer was bitten by the suspect during the altercation. Eventually, the officers succeeded in safely apprehending the man while still on the boat.
Following the incident, one of the officers involved received a medical evaluation at UMass Memorial Hospital for sustained injuries. The arrested individual, identified as Lukasz Knutelski, a 45-year-old resident of Millbury, Massachusetts, faces several charges, including operating a boat under the influence of liquor, attempting to disarm a police officer by taking their taser, committing aggravated assault, four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, assaulting and battering a police officer, and resisting arrest.
The Worcester Police Department took responsibility for the investigation concerning the theft of the jet skis, the Shrewsbury agency said.
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