The Rundown Examines Etel Haxhiaj Case, Mayor Petty Criticism, and Police Accountability in Worcester

By-Hank Stolz

Photo-Radio Worcester

Worcester, MA-The conversation on “The Rundown” centered on the legal case of former Worcester district councilor Etel Haxhiaj, against whom charges were pending. Hank and Ben listened as Mark Henderson (the016.com) and Tom Marino (thisweekinworcester.com), discussed a planned rally calling for the charges to be dropped. A significant portion of the discussion was a critique of the Worcester Mayor by Tom and Mark for refusing to publicly comment on the case, accusing him of political cowardice and using jurisdictional limits as a “cop-out.” Worcester Mayor Joe Petty had appeared earlier on the Talk of the Commonwealth on Radio Worcester. He was responding to a request from School Committee member Sue Mailman who is looking for city leaders to ask that the charges against Haxhiaj be dropped. This specific issue was used as a launching point to discuss broader themes of police accountability in Worcester, the failures of the city council, the damning findings of a past DOJ report on the police department, and the ongoing debate about establishing a civilian review board.