Homeless couple allegedly accosts teenagers in Lowell and causes a fender bender during an escape attempt

LOWELL – A homeless couple is facing assault charges after they allegedly chased three Chelmsford teens as they left the Owl Diner and tried to break into the teens’ car while accusing them of stealing — charges the scared girls denied.

The encounter, which took place late Saturday morning, culminated in a fender bender when the 17-year-old driver, in a panicked attempt to escape the couple, veered into traffic on Appleton Street.

Although no one was physically injured, the 17-year-old girl’s father said a few hours after the incident that his daughter and the two other girls, both 15, were shaken by the ordeal.

“She was hysterical when we first got there, and she’s still upset,” Chris Drinan said of his daughter.

Drinan said the three girls, members of the Chelmsford High School swimming team, gathered with teammates and coaches at the Owl Diner as part of a long-standing team tradition before heading to the Division 1 state swimming championships in Boston on Sunday. Drinan added: “a tradition that has come to an end today.”

Drinan provided a Lowell Police report to The Sun on Tuesday detailing the incident. According to the report, police said that around 11:05 a.m. Saturday, officers were called to Appleton Street, where they found the three teens in the vehicle “visibly shaken and crying.”

The girls told police they were walking to the parking lot after leaving the restaurant when a man started following them and shouted, “You have our money!” The girls said they ran to their car, got inside and locked the doors, but the man and a woman started banging on the windows and pulling on the door handles. The teens said they feared the windows would break as the couple continued to pound on them while shouting about stolen money.

At one point, the girls claim the man climbed onto the hood while the woman stood in the way of the vehicle. Ultimately, the 17-year-old driver was able to leave the parking lot on Appleton Street.

Video provided by Drinan to The Sun, taken by a resident from an upstairs room across the street, captured the chaotic moment as the girl slowly drove into stopped traffic. The footage shows the man and woman following the vehicle onto the roadway, with the man making contact as the teen driver attempts to maneuver around a stationary vehicle, resulting in a collision and causing damage.

The video shows the girl then pulling into the parking lot of Lowell Auto Service & Sales, visibly distressed in the driver’s seat. The couple continues to approach the vehicle, with the man crossing and uncrossing his arms and walking toward them in a zigzag pattern before stopping and leaning against a parked car. He stands there and stares at the girls in their now stopped car as a third party appears to photograph them.

The police report references the video.

Drinan said he was told at the scene that the male attacker fled to nearby South Common, known as a gathering place for the homeless, before police arrived.

Officers spoke with the woman involved in the incident, 45-year-old Lisa Sullivan Coppola, who was identified in the report as homeless and living in a tent behind the Bartlett Community Partnership School on Wannalancit Street.

Coppola told officers, according to the report, that she had lost $140 near the Owl Diner and believed the three teens, who were “laughing and giggling,” had found and kept the money. She told police “they were homeless and didn’t have much money to begin with, so they tried to get the money back.”

Police named Coppola and the male attacker, identified in the report as 47-year-old David Calo, also homeless, although it did not specify where he is staying, as the aggressors in the incident. According to the report, police have applied for an arrest warrant for Coppola and Calo, both on three counts of assault. The pair had not been arrested as of Tuesday evening, according to Lowell police.

Previous arrest logs from the Lowell Police Department show that Calo has been arrested several times since June on charges including possession of a Class B drug with intent to distribute, possession of a Class A drug and warrants for theft and shoplifting.

Drinan described Saturday’s incident as “disturbing”, stressing that he has been told the area near the South Common has become a known “hotspot” for crime.

The Lowell Police announced last month efforts to tackle crime in the area around South Common, which they have identified as a hub for drug activity, fights, overdoses and gunfire. On Oct. 18, police announced they had made 214 arrests while responding to 604 incidents since June 5 in the JAM neighborhood around South Common — which included Jackson, Appleton, Middlesex and other nearby streets.

Drinan said concerned parents on the swim team have contacted the coach about their concerns about the girls meeting in the area in the future.

“She wasn’t aware that the area had deteriorated to the point where it’s probably not safe for teenage girls to go there,” Drinan said.

Drinan noted that the Owl Dinner Ownership had contacted a family member of the team to apologize. They even suggested hosting a special team breakfast for the entire swim team, but Drinan said they wouldn’t feel comfortable doing that “anytime soon.” He added that despite the incident, they support the Owl Diner.

“I really hope the city of Lowell gets the help they deserve to combat this epidemic,” Drinan said. “There is too much good in the city to be overshadowed by these types of incidents.”

Lowell Councilman Erik Gitschier took to social media Tuesday to express his disgust over the incident and used it as an opportunity to promote the council’s planned vote on an ordinance aimed at banning public camping to eradicate homeless encampments to break, like the one in South Common. Gitschier said on Facebook: “Enough is enough.”

“Does someone’s daughter have to go through that?” Gitschier told The Sun on Tuesday. “It’s terrible.”

Follow Aaron Curtis on X, formerly known as Twitter, @aselahcurtis