No Bail for Boston Firefighter Who Threatened Cop

Boston, MA — A Boston firefighter arrested on charges he violated a restraining order taken out against him by one city police officer Tuesday was in ‘a highly agitated state’ when he told another cop that he planned to kill his opponent, prosecutors said yesterday.

Michael Costello of Hyde Park was held on $1,000 bail yesterday after he pleaded not guilty in West Roxbury District Court to violating a harassment prevention order, threats to kill and intimidation of a witness.

Costello, 60, was arrested shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday at his Dana Avenue home for allegedly violating the order taken out by a Boston police officer in Quincy, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

After his arrest, he allegedly told another cop that he planned to kill the officer who had taken out the restraining order, adding that he knew the officer frequented a certain place, Wark said.

The cop he told noticed that Costello’s ‘eyes were bulging, and that he was in a highly agitated state,’ according to the police report.

His arrest caused his bail in Quincy to be revoked, so that even if he posts the $1,000 bail in Boston, he will still be held, Wark said.

Costello’s attorney, Daniel O’Malley, declined comment. Costello has been a Boston firefighter since 1997 and works out of Ladder 15 near the Prudential Center, said BFD spokesman Steve MacDonald. He is considered absent without leave and is not being paid, MacDonald said, but no other disciplinary action has been taken against him as yet.