Same-sex domestic dispute ends on I-93

In what appears to be a domestic dispute between two women, Sandra Howes, 42, was boxed in by police and then held at gunpoint on Interstate 93 in Dorchester yesterday just after noon. According to the Boston Herald, the passenger was screaming for help out of the window of a green 2000 Honda Civic.

The incident began when a Charlestown citizen alerted Boston Police about a woman who appeared to be in danger and was being battered in a moving car.

Police began pursuing Howes, as she pushed 80 m.p.h. and wove dangerously through interstate traffic. Howes began continually rear-ending the SUV ahead of her as she got stuck in traffic, and was finally boxed in behind a Toyota driven by Alexandra Craig, a Quincy hair stylist who was pulled from her car and into safety by Boston K-9 officer Kevin Watson.

When Howes's Honda was finally stopped, police smashed out the windows of the car and drew their guns.

"It was very close to a shots-fired situation," an officer told the Herald.

The passenger threw herself across Howes, calling Howes her "wife." Police sprayed Howes with pepper spray in order to subdue her and get her to relax her grip on the wheel.

Beth Leventhal, the executive director of The Network/La Red, an organization that assists lesbian, bisexual women and transgender survivors of domestic violence, said that these sorts of domestic dispute cases are not uncommon.

"Absolutely, I think that this is not the first time that we've heard of somebody being assaulted during driving, batterers have used a vehicle as a weapon," said Leventhal.

"Unfortunately, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, a car is a weapon," she continued.

"Recklessly driving to be dangerous, as well as being able to use a car as a small enclosed space, which is typically difficult to exit, and using that as a stage for abuse is not uncommon."

Howes was arraigned on July 23 in the Dorchester Division of Boston Municipal Court on assault and motor vehicle charges. This is reportedly not Howes's first criminal offense; last week she was convicted in Fall River District Court for vandalism and assault with a dangerous weapon.

According to the Herald, Howes has been sentenced to 30 days in jail but was credited with time already served.