A Stoughton man who spent time in state prison for motor vehicle homicide is in more legal trouble after he allegedly assaulted police officers in Boston, an altercation in which he urged officers to call his “boss, the female governor.”

Joshua Cooper, 36, became “increasingly agitated” when officers with the Boston Police Department gained custody of him after they responded to a ShotSpotter activation in Dorchester early last Saturday morning.

Officers saw a “large group” congregated on Gleason Street when they arrived around 3 a.m. A man, later identified as Cooper, is said to have “walked up to officers with his left hand inside his pocket and asked, ‘Do you want to see my badge?’ according to an incident report.

“Officers observed an empty holster on the right side of Cooper’s pants and handcuffed him after a brief struggle,” the report states.

Tension flared when officers allegedly found a tan and green Smith & Wesson handgun with a 12-round magazine, with one round in the chamber and six rounds in the magazine, in the driver’s side of a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Cooper told officers he did not have a license to carry, according to the incident report. Officers gained access to the vehicle, parked across the street from the ShotSpotter activation, when a key fob fell out of Cooper’s pocket.

When officers arrived with Cooper at the BPD’s Roxbury office for booking, the man allegedly “refused to allow his hands to be placed in ‘hand preservation bags’ designed to preserve evidence of gunshot residue,” the report states.

Cooper continued to refuse to cooperate after crime lab technicians entered the booking area to swab his hands, “claiming that his wrists were injured from being placed in handcuffs,” but officers reportedly “did not observe any visible marks on his hands or wrists.”

“Officers attempted to de-escalate the situation and gain Cooper’s (voluntary) compliance to which he repeatedly refused,” the report states. “Throughout the duration of this encounter, Cooper insisted that he ‘handcuffs kids all day’ (referring to his position as a DYS worker), urged Officers to contact his boss, ‘the female Governor,’ and claimed he was going to sue Officers while smiling and laughing.”

The state Department of Youth Services did not share information with the Herald on deadline regarding Cooper’s employment with the agency, but they did not deny he was a DYS worker.

Payroll records through the state Comptroller’s Office show that Cooper works as a “Youth Service Group Worker I” for DYS, earning $59,222 so far in 2025, as of July 12, at an annual rate of $65,427.

Cooper earned $16,299 in the position last year at an annual rate of $63,522, records indicate. The 2024 payroll is the first time he is listed as a DYS employee.

The BPD incident report further alleges Cooper became violent after he “initially cooperated in placing his hands behind his back, but instantly tensed up his arms upon observing handcuffs.”

“Cooper forcibly brought both of his hands towards the front of his body and wildly attempted to swing his fist towards an officer,” but he “violently struggled, knocking multiple Officers to the ground and nearly making contact with the civilian crime lab technicians who were barely able to exit the cell.”

At least one officer suffered a cut to his right elbow after hitting the concrete ground, the incident report states.

“Cooper continued to be violently combative as Officers struggled to place him in handcuffs,” the report continues. “He proceeded to incoherently shout about a lawsuit while spitting on the ground towards Officers as they struggled to place him in handcuffs.”

The chaos prompted an officer to allegedly “strike Cooper with a closed fist in his head /face area while Cooper continued to laugh and spit.”

Cooper has been charged with possession of a large capacity firearm, carrying a loaded firearm without a license, carrying a firearm without a license, possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card, assault and battery on a police officer, and resisting arrest.

Judge Jonathan Tynes set bail at $3,000 and ordered Cooper to stay away from the location of the offense during an arraignment at Dorchester Boston Municipal Court on Monday. Cooper is due back in court on September 18 for a probable cause hearing.

“As if being charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition wasn’t serious enough,” Suffolk DA Kevin Hayden said in a statement on Thursday, “this man apparently chose to multiply his offenses by resisting arrest and assaulting police officers. His actions resulted in an officer being injured and more charges for himself.”

The Suffolk DA’s press release did not indicate that Cooper referred to his position with DYS during the violent confrontation. The details came to light in the BPD incident report which the Herald obtained Thursday evening.

Cooper served a four-year sentence in state prison that began in 2014 after the then 25-year-old Brockton man was involved in a motor vehicle homicide that killed 42-year-old Morris Webb.

Prosecutors in that case said Cooper swerved around a stopped vehicle at a traffic light, ran the light, and struck Webb’s SUV. Webb was ejected and pronounced dead at the hospital, while Cooper and a passenger in his vehicle were injured.

Prosecutors said Cooper’s blood alcohol content was above the legal level to drive, and he was barred from consuming alcohol as a condition of probation in a previous case.

A job application for DYS’ “Youth Service Group Worker I” role outlines that a “criminal background check will be completed on the recommended candidate” before they are hired.

The role entails employees working with “juvenile justice-involved youth and young adults (most are 16-20 years old) in a 24-hour-a-day / 7-day-a-week locked residential facility.”

The application adds that employees are “expected to use physical interventions to maintain safety and security (following) department policies” if “verbal de-escalation attempts are exhausted.”

“In this team-led environment,” the application states, “you will ensure the safety and security of the youth while offering the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and life skills needed to become responsible and independent adults.”