EASTHAMPTON — A man who was just released from Bridgewater State Hospital sat on the edge of a bed with a foot-long serrated knife in his hand. As he drank straight vodka, the man threatened to kill himself and cut the head off Bruce McMahon, who stood 7 feet away.
McMahon, 57, remembers the incident clearly. It was 1999 and he was a sergeant with the Easthampton Police Department.
They found the man in a small room in the cellar of the house. He had called 911 and said “I’m dead.” Although he was alive, the man was on the verge of ending his life.
McMahon stood at the doorway. It was small and officers could only enter single file. They lined up on the stairs behind McMahon who spoke slowly to the man, asking him to put down the knife.
But the man kept on drinking straight vodka, ranting and swinging the knife. After 40 minutes, McMahon noticed a pattern in the man’s behavior.
Every time he would sit down, he would reach his hand down to the floor, grabbing his glass of vodka and take a sip.
“He would do that every 10 minutes and I would count, one, two, three,” McMahon said. “He had his eyes off me 7 to 10 seconds at a time.”
As the man took a swig of vodka, McMahon jumped on him and safely unarmed him. McMahon was honored with the Medal of Valor for his actions during the incident.
“It’s been an interesting career,” he said of his 37 years at the department.
On Thursday, McMahon made his last call as chief of police.
“It’s been an honor to work with so many extrodinary people … For 37½ years, I did what I loved and in some small way I hope I made this department a better place.” McMahon said over the police radio for his final call. “Signing off for the final time, 06 signal 4, stay safe and may God bless.”
To replace McMahon, Mayor Karen Cadieux has recommended Capt. Robert Alberti for the city’s chief of police. The appointment subcommittee will review the recommendation and the City Council will make a decision Nov. 16. Alberti will serve as acting chief until an appointment is made.
“I’m going to miss him,” Alberti said of McMahon. “His legacy here is going to live on. He had such an impact on this organization.”
When McMahon was a teenager, he got to know the beat officer who would patrol on Cottage Street. As the officer hopped in the police cruiser and turned on the blue lights, McMahon said he was impressed and later enrolled at Holyoke Community College and graduated from Anna Maria College in the 1980s with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice
But, at first, he wanted to be a photographer. He used his interest in the field and spent about 20 years photographing crime scenes for evidence.
In May 1979, McMahon became a special officer just a few weeks before his 20th birthday. The next year he was appointed a provisional police officer. Four years later he was sworn in as a full-time patrolman. He became a sergeant in 1988, captain in 2002 and was appointed chief of police in 2005.
Over the years, McMahon has seen changes at the department and in the city. Before there were computers, he said, officers used to write incident reports on 4-by-6-inch index cards using a typewriter.
In the ’80s, McMahon said, Easthampton was a mill town full of low-end bars offering cheap alcohol and a lot of it. He said one bar would be open at 6 a.m. and offered a “workman’s special” — a shot of whiskey and a beer.
But McMahon said the area was prone to violence. Some officers on the night shift were hired for their size based on the amount of drunken disturbances.
“You were literally going to a fight every night,” he said. “It was always a bar fight.”
But the city has drastically changed, McMahon said, and bar fights have dramatically decreased. In the mid to late ’90s, nicer establishments moved into town, some with live music, and some family-oriented.
McMahon worked to keep crime at bay while taking risks along the way.
In 1994, a fight broke out, bricks and bottles where being thrown, smashing into police cars outside the house. McMahon was kneed in the groin and sent to the hospital. His cruiser had a broken window.
In another incident, McMahon and other officers searched for a man with a shotgun who had threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend. While the officers searched the area, the individual was standing behind a tree, watching them. He could have shot them, McMahon said. Instead, the man took his own life.
“He killed himself. Right in front of us,” McMahon said. “That’s something that will stay in your mind forever. You remember things like that.”
McMahon said the people at the department have become like a family to him.
“It’s the people I work with is what I’m going to miss the most,” McMahon said.
“To me, he’s more of a friend than a supervisor,” Chris Patnode, 55, said. Patnode has been at the department for 32 years. He said McMahon mentored him during his early years on the force and the two worked as partners from about 1987 to 1997.
“He showed me the ropes,” Patnode said.
In the weeks prior to his retirement, McMahon decided to get “back on the street” and rode along with every officer on the Easthampton force.
He made his last arrest on Oct. 19 at 7:45 p.m. Sean Miner, 30, had a warrant out for his arrest. An officer took a photo as McMahon handcuffed Miner.
“I may be starting a new life of retirement,” McMahon said during his last call. “But deep inside, I will always be a police officer.”
For retirement, McMahon plans to travel with his wife, Mary. Hawaii is first on the list, but he plans to keep his phone nearby in case he’s eeded.
“It’s been one hell of a ride,” he said.
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.