Man assaults couple at Fall River gas station in retaliation, police say
A Massachusetts man is facing multiple charges after he was accused of assaulting an older couple at a Fall River gas station, but only after he was struck by a man he attacked, according to police.
Fall River police said the assaults happened at about 7 p.m. Friday at the New World Gas Station at 340 Milliken Blvd.
When an officer arrived at the gas station, he was approached by a 68-year-old Fall River woman who said that she and her husband, 66-year-old Jose Andrade, had been attacked.
According to police, the woman explained that when they arrived at the gas station, her husband asked the woman who was in the vehicle in front of them to move forward so that they could pump gasoline into their car.
The woman then told police that a man, identified as 39-year-old Roderick Dixon, of Fall River, approached her husband and began arguing with him. That argument eventually became physical, with Dixon punching her husband in the face and pushing her to the ground.
Police said they were also told by witnesses that they saw Dixon kicking Jose Andrade in the head while he was on the ground.
Andrade and his wife were transported to Saint Anne's Hospital to be medically evaluated.
The Fall River police officer who responded to the scene then reviewed the gas station's surveillance video and discovered that Andrade initiated the physical altercation by striking Dixon in the face twice.
Dixon arrived at Fall River Police Headquarters to speak with an officer while the incident at the gas station was being investigated. While speaking with an officer at HQ, police said Dixon confirmed that he had been involved in an altercation with Andrade at the New World Gas Station. Police said Dixon also indicated that Andrade struck him in the face twice and then retaliated.
Police said Dixon was arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a person over 60, and assault and battery on a person over 60 with injury.
Andrade is also facing criminal charges for assault and battery, according to Fall River police.