Massachusetts Police Officer and New Mom Accused of Pointing Gun at Fellow Officers to Remain in Custody
The Massachusetts police officer and new mom accused of pulling a gun on fellow officers trying to serve a restraining order will remain behind bars ahead of her trial â after she refused breathalyzer testing, the stateâs supreme court ruled.
Kelsey Fitzsimmons, 28, will stay held without bail after she appealed a lower courtâs decision to keep her jailed for refusing to comply with alcohol breathalyzer testing required for release, the Boston Globe reported.
Fitzsimmonsâ attorneys argued she was improperly denied bail because of the breathalyzer requirement, suggesting that she could have done urine testing to monitor her sobriety and that her injuries prevented her from blowing into a breathalyzer.
The North Andover cop was shot in the chest in June after allegedly pointing a pistol at fellow officers coming to serve her a restraining order.
Fitzsimmons pulled the trigger on her weapon, but the gun wasnât loaded. Police shot Fitzsimmons to subdue her.
She had given birth to a baby just months earlier in March and had been suffering some severe postpartum depression, leading her then-fiancĂ© to allegedly fear for her and their childâs life and request a restraining order.
Fitzsimmons was hospitalized and then sent to jail for months after the accident before finally being released in September â only to be detained again within days over the breathalyzer matter, MassLive reported.
And Massachusettsâ Supreme Judicial Court has now upheld that detention in a 10-page ruling.
âWe conclude that the hearing judge did not abuse her discretion in denying the request and detaining Fitzsimmons,â the ruling obtained by the Globe read.
âAfter the August 28 dangerousness hearing, the hearing judge appropriately imposed the conditions restricting Fitzsimmonsâs release, including the SCRAM [breathalyzer] requirement.
âAlthough Fitzsimmons argues that alcohol did not play a role in the June 30 incident, the material submitted by the Commonwealth at the August 28 hearing indicated that she âstruggled with ⊠aggression ⊠and alcohol abuse,’â it continued, noting Fitzsimmons had been convicted of an alcohol-related misdemeanor in 2019.
Fitzsimmonsâ trial for assault charges is expected to begin on Feb. 9.
She has pleaded not guilty and denied ever pointing a weapon at police â insisting that she had actually put the gun to her own head.
âMy firearm was never pointed in any direction other than my temple,â she said in a July statement. âWhen I pulled the trigger, my gun did not fire. However, I immediately got shot in the chest by my colleague and friend.â
Fitzsimmons had been hospitalized in March for postpartum depression after her childâs February birth, and just two days before the shooting, she allegedly began making alarming threats about herself and her child.
That prompted her firefighter fiancé to seek custody of the child.
âI fear if she doesnât have me she will kill the baby because she has said she has nothing besides me,â he wrote in a filing around June 29. âFitzsimmons is a danger to myself, her son and herself.â
By June 30, Fitzsimmons was shot in the chest as cops tried to serve the ensuing restraining order.

