The guard named in the lawsuit, Rene Norestant Jr., has been named in three other attacks at The Garden. -Photo: Wikimedia commons
Four homeless people are suing a former security guard and his former employer, Allied Universal, for violent incidents that occurred at the TD Banknorth Garden last year, according to Suffolk Superior Court documents.
Rene Norestant Jr. of Boston had already been charged with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for a Dec. 22 incident but has now been named in three other attacks that also occurred at TD Garden earlier last year.
Allied Universal, the company that hired Norestant, is no longer the security contractor for TD Garden and North Station.
Company spokesperson Angela Burrell said Allied Universal does not comment on pending litigation.
Norestant’s Dec. 22 attack on Michael Hathaway of Boston had been caught by security cameras and was reported by the Boston Globe, which ultimately led to his arrest earlier this year.
Hathaway’s lawyer Patrick Jones of Jones Kelleher LLP declined to comment but is asking that Hathaway and the three others allegedly assaulted by Norestant are compensated for their injuries, according to court documents.
Jones is arguing that Allied Universal did not fulfill its obligation to provide a safe and secure environment to patrons of TD Garden and North Station and was either careless, negligent or grossly negligent, according to court documents.
His complaint also states that the company either failed to properly hire, train or manage its employees in removing homeless people from TD Garden or negligently implemented a policy for that issue.
Jones’s other clients, Richard DePrimeo of Woburn, Michael O’Leary of Somerville and Kourtney McLean of Boston, also allege that they were forcibly removed by Norestant and/or another Allied Universal employee, which led to physical and emotional injuries.
The lawsuit filed on March 16 said that Norestant and the company owe more than $55,400 in combined medical expenses for all four assaults and asked that a grand jury preside over the case.
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