by Frank Schroth

There was a large film crew at Steel & Rye today filming a television program. During the course of the taping union picketers arrived and hassled members of the crew, pedestrians and a police officer who had been hired as safety detail. One passer by said the picketers were “aggressive”. Deputy Chief King stated that just under a dozen cars had their tires slashed at some point.

The number of picketers, who were with the Teamsters, union started out at 3 or 4 in number and swelled to about 15 – 20 and then thinned out as afternoon wore on. Another 3 or 4 officers were sent to assist with the situation.

The vandalism to automobiles was discovered after the picketers left the scene around 1:30 or 2:00. The police did not make any arrests but are conducting a follow up investigation.

The film shoot was only for today and was not connected in any way with other film crews in the area. It might have been a Top Chef  episode which according to their web site will be in the Boston area this season. Members of the crew we spoke to would not identify it.