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Man is held over vicious June assault

By Staff | Sep 28, 2010

NASHUA – A Manchester man went on quite a crime spree over a few days in late June, police said, culminating in a vicious assault outside a Main Street business that left a man blind in one eye.

Police arrested Shawn Olson, 24, of 176 Beech Hill Road in Manchester, around 8 p.m. Friday and charged him with second-degree assault, burglary, criminal liability to attempted burlgary and theft, police said.

Police were called to the corner of Main and Belmont streets around 8 p.m. June 27 for a reported assault. Officers found David Tucker, 44, of Nashua unconscious and bleeding from the head. He was taken to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center and then transferred to Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass, police said.

One person saw the alleged assault and several spotted the attacker fleeing the area, according to court documents.

The assailant fled on Belmont Street and two women followed him in their car and then north on Elm Street and into the Walgreens parking lot, according to court documents.

One of the women tried to take a picture of the suspect with her cell phone but he saw her and fled again on Elm Street, according to court documents.

Both the women identified Olson from photos lineups weeks after the alleged assault, according to court documents.

Olson is accused of punching Tucker in the face, fracturing the orbital bone around his right eye, according to court documents.

The injuries Tucker sustained were severe. He had a concussion, blood around his brain and hemorrhaging in the back of his right eye that damaged his optic nerve, Tucker said. He also had fractures in his temple, eye socket and nose and nerve damage on the right side of his face. At one point, doctors thought they were going to need to drill into his skull to relieve the pressure the blood was exerting on his brain.

He is blind in his right eye, according to court documents.

After he was released from the hospital, Tucker told police several people he knew told him it was Olson who assaulted him because he told them he hadn’t meant to injure Tucker as badly as he did. He theorized that the alleged attack may have been over $40 Tucker owed Olson, according to court documents.

He told police Olson gave him money to buy crack cocaine a few days before and that he used it to buy drugs for himself and planned on paying Olson back, according to court documents.

Olson is also accused of stealing construction tools worth more than $1,500 from a home on Palm Street along with two other men on June 25, two days before the alleged assault. He also allegedly acted as a lookout for the same two men during an attempted burglary on Gilman Street on June 24, according to court documents.

The homeowner heard glass breaking and Olson and the other men fled when the homeowner investigated, police said.

Olson was arraigned at Nashua District Court on Monday and held on $25,000 cash or corporate surety bail. A probable cause hearing is scheduled for Oct. 5, according to court documents.

The Class A felony theft and criminal liability to attempted burglary charges are each punishable by up to 15 years in prison plus fines. The second-degree assault and burglary charges are each punishable by up to seven years in prison, police said.

Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nashuatelegraph.com.

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