A man fled police by swimming across the Charles River from Cambridge to Boston before being arrested early Friday, prosecutors said.
Michael Stockwell was in court later in the day, where a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf on six charges, including trespassing and malicious destruction of property.
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The incident began about 3 a.m., when MIT police officers saw a man, later identified as Stockwell, attempting to break in to a locked bicycle cage, prosecutors said in court. When they asked what he was doing there, the man allegedly tried to drive off on his motorcycle — first flipping the bike out from underneath him, then, after a struggle with an officer, hitting and damaging a cruiser.
Officers lost sight of him near the river, but heard a person swimming, prosecutors said. He was eventually found in the grass on the far shore, prosecutors said. The motorcycle he'd had was stolen, as was the license plate.
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Stockwell's court-appointed lawyer said the man had simply stopped to smoke a cigarette and tried to get a water bottle out from under the cage, and that stealing a bicycle would have been impractical on a motorcycle.
"He did panic when the police came, made some bad decisions, put his life at risk swimming across the Charles River," the lawyer said, but noted he's a father with good job prospects.
The judge ordered Stockwell be held on $500 cash bail and, upon release, stay away from MIT property. He's due back in court for a pretrial hearing Sept. 12.
The Cambridge Fire Department reported a water rescue just after 4 a.m. Friday near Memorial Drive. Cambridge later confirmed a man was arrested by MIT officers.
