Charges against Joint Base guard who pursued tour bus to be heard by clerk magistrate

Sarah Carlon

  Cape Cod Times

Pubished Oct. 19, 2022 

FALMOUTH — An off-duty officer with the Massachusetts National Guard who chased a tour bus he thought was bringing migrants to Cape Cod last month has been summonsed to appear in Falmouth District Court on multiple charges, Falmouth police Lt. Michael Simoneau said.

Lt. Col. Christopher Hoffman, 51, followed the bus — which turned out to have been transporting 37 senior citizens from Tennessee on a tour of Cape Cod — for approximately 10 miles, in the evening, from the Bourne Rotary to the Admiralty Inn & Suites in Falmouth. He live-streamed his pursuit of the bus on his Facebook page.

Falmouth police issued a summons to Hoffman on charges of operating under the influence of liquor, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, possession of an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle and disorderly conduct, Simoneau said in an email to the Times.

'He thought there were migrants on the bus':Guard officer pursues, confronts senior citizens

The charges will be heard in a private clerk magistrate's hearing where the magistrate will decide whether to go forward with the charges. There is no information on the date of the hearing, Simoneau said. Magistrate hearings and records connected with them are not public under state law.

A Times reporter sought comment from Hoffman on his work and personal phone numbers, which went unanswered, and messages could not be left.

Hoffman praised Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as he pursued tour bus

A portion of the video Hoffman made while chasing the bus was obtained by the Times. In it, Hoffman jubilantly praises Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' efforts to send migrants who crossed the Southern U.S. border to Cape Cod. He thought the bus was full of migrants because Tallahassee, Florida, was written on the side of the vehicle.

When the bus reached the hotel, Hoffman got into a verbal altercation with passengers on the bus, said Michael Vaughn, the bus driver and owner of Mike's Limousine, a Tallahassee-based transportation company.

Hoffman can be seen talking to Vaughn and, later, having an angry exchange with passengers on the bus in a pair of videos that were made in the parking lot of the hotel. The videos were shared with the Times provided they would not be published. 

"He thought there were immigrants on the bus," Vaughn said. "He was totally wrong."

In the Facebook Live video, Hoffman seems agitated about the current immigrant situation and expresses frustration about trying to bring someone from Afghanistan to the United States.

"I have an Afghan I can't even get into the country," said Hoffman, who served in Afghanistan between 2010 and 2011. "He helped us in 2005 and 2010."

He reiterated the information to the passengers on the bus.

Maj. Gen. Gary Keefe of the Massachusetts National Guard declined to comment on the incident and whether Hoffman would be facing penalties within the Guard, citing concerns for his privacy.

However, the Guard released a statement about the incident late last month in response to a request from the Times.

“The Massachusetts National Guard considers the conduct of this soldier to be inappropriate and inconsistent with our military values," Col. Mark Kalin, Commander of the Massachusetts Army National Guard, said in the statement to the Times. "We are currently working to ensure our service member is evaluated and receives any services he may need, while also reviewing appropriate disciplinary actions. The incident is currently under investigation and no further information is available at this time.”

'Hoffman was out of control'

Maya Patel, the property manager at the Admiralty Inn & Suites, said she was waiting for the tour group, as usual, that night when the bus pulled into the parking lot followed by a truck.

She said the bus driver, Vaughn, got out of the vehicle and locked the doors, letting Patel know there was somebody following the bus and not to let anyone off.

"At that point, it was dark, it was after 9 p.m., and he (bus driver) started walking toward the back of the bus really fast, where I could see a pickup truck," she said. "I could see a gentleman get out of the pickup with a camera on."

Patel said Vaughn confronted Hoffman, who was recording video on his phone, and asked him why he was following the bus and recording them.

"He (Hoffman) was just like, 'I want to know what's going on inside,'" she said. "'I'm a citizen and I have a right to know what's going on.'"

Patel went inside the building and called the police.

"He (Hoffman) was out of control in the way he was talking," she said. "He was recording all of my employees, and he wouldn't stop. Only afterward we found out he was live on Facebook."

When she went back outside, Hoffman was inside the bus. Several police officers arrived and tried to calm him down, Patel said, but were unable to. They eventually sent him to the hospital in an ambulance.

The Facebook video, which was shared with the Times, shows Hoffman driving at times and the bus ahead of him at other points. The bus can be seen switching lanes but when the bus switched lanes Hoffman did as well, according to the video. Hoffman has removed the video from his Facebook page with police looking on, according to a police report.

Hoffman was near the Bourne Rotary at the foot of the Bourne Bridge on Sept. 19 when he saw the bus and decided to follow it down Route 28 toward Falmouth. Vaughn said the truck had its high beams on during the pursuit.

"He was literally five feet off my bumper," said Vaughn, "He wouldn't leave me."

Vaughn tried slowing down and changing lanes on Route 28 to let the pickup truck pass to no avail.

"He harassed us to death," said Vaughn. "Everybody was scared to death." 

Pursuit came days after migrants arrived on Joint Base Cape Cod

Hoffman's pursuit of the bus came just days after some 50 men, women and children mainly from Venezuela arrived unexpectedly on Martha's Vineyard on Sep. 14, at DeSantis' direction. The migrants were brought to Joint Base Cape Cod soon after, where the state set up a temporary shelter at the direction of Gov. Charlie Baker. Hoffman worked on the base.

Patel said the elderly passengers were still terrified after Hoffman was gone from the scene.

"The officers were really helpful because the entire bus was really frightened," Patel said. "They probably thought someone with a weapon was getting on the bus. We had to escort every single guest to their rooms because they were really frightened."

A couple of police officers stayed on the scene throughout the night, she said.

In the 16 years she has worked at the Admiralty Inn & Suites, Patel said nothing like this has ever happened before.

"We've been doing the tours since 2009, we get 15-20 tour buses a year," she said. "No, nothing like this has happened."