STATE TROOPER'S PATTERN OF ABUSE ALLEGED

A state police sergeant accused of terrorizing his wife at gunpoint Monday
had abused her in the past - once breaking her ribs - and was in a
drug-induced frenzy during this week's harrowing ordeal, prosecutors said
yesterday.

"He was high on cocaine and marijuana," prosecutor Maria Judge said of Sgt.
Tim White. "This was a very dangerous incident and by the grace of God, it
wasn't more than that."

White, who works in the department's narcotics inspections unit, was deemed
a danger to the community yesterday by Stoughton District Court Judge
Francis Crimmins. The 39-year-old trooper, a former state police spokesman,
was sent to Bridgewater State Hospital for a 30-day evaluation.

White's attorney, Tim Burke, wanted the trooper placed in a private mental
health facility, saying his client had stopped taking his prescription
anti-depressants.

"This was a cry for help," Burke said of the incident. "This case cries out
for intervention. He needs help."

White is charged with shoving his department-issued .40-caliber Sig Sauer
handgun into his wife's mouth and clothed backside during a fracas in their
Stoughton home. With the couple's two young girls in the house, the 16-year
veteran cop and his wife, Maura, had a "slapping match" that culminated
with the officer taking his gun out of a safe and putting it in his own mouth.

"He said to her, 'Watch this. I want you to see this,' " Stoughton police
Sgt. Robert Welch said. "She turned around and he had the weapon in his mouth."

He then turned the weapon on her, saying "I'll do you instead," Welch said.
"He grabbed her by the face and inserted the weapon into her mouth."

After pulling the gun on her, Welch said, White then allegedly slapped her,
knocking her to the ground. The cop ripped the batteries out of the
cordless phone when she tried to call for help before climbing into bed
with their daughter, with the gun in his pocket, Welch said.

Maura White, who sobbed in court as a chilling 911 tape of the violence was
played, sustained a cut lip in the fight.

On the tape, Maura White can be heard crying while rounding up their two
girls, ages 4 and 6. She can also be heard yelling at him, at one point
screaming, "It's not my fault."

The incident marks the third time police have responded to the couple's
fights. In July, Maura White suffered broken ribs during a fracas, and in a
Dec. 6, 2002, fight, Tim White allegedly picked his wife off the ground and
attempted to throw her.

It was unknown yesterday why charges where not brought against White for
the earlier alleged assaults. The trooper has been placed on paid
administrative leave. A hearing on his status is scheduled for Monday.

State police Lt. Ron Sieberg said "there will be a full investigation into
Trooper White's actions," including a probe of where he obtained the drugs.
Part of White's job was destroying drugs after cases have been concluded.