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Manchester man facing 18 charges, 4 indictments; allegedly kidnapped, restrained, beat up woman in Merrimack

By Dean Shalhoup - Senior Staff Reporter | Apr 14, 2021

NASHUA – Charges ranging from domestic assault and kidnapping to criminal threatening with a deadly weapon and drug possession, filed against 25-year-old Marquise Tuff back in February, have led to indictments on four of the felony offenses.

Tuff, of 122 Patterson Drive, Manchester, is currently incarcerated at Valley Street jail as his case, which stems from a series of alleged crimes involving a 19-year-old woman in Merrimack, moves forward in Hillsborough County Superior Court South.

The four charges on which a Superior Court grand jury indicted Tuff in March include one count each of kidnapping – domestic violence; falsifying physical evidence; second-degree assault; and criminal restraint, all of which are Class B felonies.

The criminal restraint and kidnapping charges accuse Tuff of confining the woman in a 2012 BMW while driving on the Everett Turnpike early the morning of Feb. 16, then pulling off the turnpike, bringing her into the woods and demanding she take responsibility for driving the vehicle, the reports state.

The second-degree assault charge alleges Tuff recklessly caused bodily injury to the woman “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life,” by allegedly “pushing her to the ground and repeatedly kicking her in the head, causing bruising and swelling … .”

And the falsifying evidence charge accuses Tuff of concealing, in the woods, a backpack allegedly containing illegal drugs with a purpose to impair a police investigation.

The other 14 charges, a mix of felonies and misdemeanors, filed against Tuff in connection with the alleged February incidents include one count each of operating a vehicle as a certified habitual offender; domestic violence – criminal threatening (deadly weapon); and robbery, Class B felonies; one count, acts prohibited – controlled drug act, a special felony; and two counts of possession of a controlled drug, Class B felonies.

The Class A misdemeanor charges include two counts of criminal mischief; and one count each of theft – value under $1,000; driving after revocation or suspension; driving under the influence, second offense; simple assault – domestic violence; obstructing the report of a crime or injury; and resisting arrest or detention.

It’s not yet known whether prosecutors are planning to seek indictments on any of the other six felony charges.

According to police reports, it was around 1:30 a.m. on Feb. 16 that police received reports of a vehicle off the road on the Everett Turnpike near the Merrimack Ten Pin Bowling Center and the Merrimack Medical Center.

Upon arrival, officers located the BMW and, according to their reports, they “observed footprints leading from the vehicle and going into the woods.”

One of the officers told the others he’d heard a woman scream just before they arrived, and as they fanned out to look for the car’s occupants, a Merrimack officer came upon a man and a woman in the Merrimack Medical Center parking lot.

The woman immediately told the officer she was driving the car, “however, she appeared very scared and was visibly shaking,” the report states.

But as soon as the officer walked the woman out of earshot of the man, later identified as Tuff, she immediately told the officer that Tuff was driving, but he had allegedly struck her and threatened to kill her if she didn’t take responsibility for the crash, the reports state.

Meanwhile, officers attempting to speak with Tuff suspected he was impaired by alcohol, but he told them the woman was driving – which contradicted his earlier claim that he was “just walking” in the area.

When the officers went to arrest Tuff for DUI and searched him, he allegedly told an officer that “he wanted to ‘wrestle,’ and that if he didn’t have handcuffs on, he would beat me up,” the officer wrote.

Tuff also allegedly complained that one of the officers “had offended him,” and asserted that the two who arrested him “were both racists,” the report states.

Once at police headquarters for the booking process, an officer wrote that he found Tuff “in a peculiar position” when he went to retrieve him from the cruiser.

Tuff had apparently attempted to “jump over the handcuffs” to get his arms in front of him, but, the report states, he got stuck with his hands behind the backs of his knees, and the jacket he was wearing became wrapped around the handcuffs.

The officer wrote that he assisted Tuff from the cruiser, and once in the booking room succeeded in freeing him.

Tuff allegedly swung between uncooperative and irate, according to the reports, including using abusive language toward a booking officer and giving the officers a hard time when they put him in a holding cell.

Tuff was later transported to Valley Street jail in Manchester pending his next court appearance, which is a dispositional conference currently scheduled for May 20.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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