Press Release  AG’s Office Obtains Civil Rights Injunction Against Wellfleet Man After Racially-motivated Assault in Provincetown Park

BARNSTABLE — A Wellfleet man has been ordered to stay away from a 14-year-old after using a racial slur and assaulting the victim in a Provincetown park because of his race, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today. The man also has been ordered to stay away from a Truro woman and her husband after the defendant attacked the woman when she spoke up and tried to stop the initial assault. 

In an action brought under the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act (MCRA), the AG’s Office obtained a court order that also prohibits the defendant from engaging in further bias-motivated assaults, threats, or intimidation. The case was referred to the AG’s Office by the Provincetown Police Department.

On September 25, the AG’s Office filed a civil complaint in Barnstable Superior Court against Daniel Tripp alleging he violated the state’s civil rights law when he assaulted the 14-year-old because of his race, and then attacked a witness who tried to protect the child. On Thursday, Judge Thomas Perrino granted a preliminary injunction against Tripp prohibiting him from contacting the victims, their families, or any witness in the case. The judge also prohibited Tripp from coming within 25 yards of the victims or within 50 yards of their residences, places of employment, and school of the child victim. Tripp is also prohibited from threatening, harassing, or intimidating the victims or any person on the basis of race.

According to the allegations of the complaint, on June 15, 2019, the defendant approached the 14-year-old, who was socializing with his friends in the park next to Provincetown Town Hall, yelled a racial slur at the child, and grabbed him, lifting him up from where he was sitting. The AG’s Office alleges that a Truro woman who witnessed the assault tried to intervene, telling Tripp to leave the child alone. Tripp allegedly walked over to the Truro woman, hit her in the chest and punched her face.

Under the MCRA, the AG’s Office may obtain injunctions against individuals who threaten, intimidate, or coerce victims and interfere or attempt to interfere with their secured rights, such as the right to access public ways or places, the right to associate, or the right to be safe and secure in one’s person. The AG’s office prioritizes cases involving conduct that is motivated by the offenders’ bias against the victim(s) because of their membership in a protected class – race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability, for example.

In addition to the preliminary injunction, the AG’s Office is seeking a permanent injunction in accordance with the terms of the preliminary injunction, as well as civil penalties, attorneys’ fees, and damages for the violations.

This case is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Sara Colb of AG Healey’s Civil Rights Division, with assistance from Investigators Ciara Tran and Edward Cherubin of AG Healey’s Civil Investigations Division as well as Civil Rights Officer Emmett Catanese of the Provincetown Police Department.

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