A Massachusetts woman is facing multiple charges in court after allegedly unleashing a swarm of bees on Hampden County Sheriff’s deputies as they tried to serve an eviction notice at a home last week in Longmeadow.
The Hampden County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that they were serving an eviction notice on a Memery Lane home when 55-year-old, Rorie Susan Woods of Hadley, arrived in her car and walked over behind her SUV where she was towing “manufactured bee hives.”
Officers tried to stop her from opening the lid to no avail. The bees started becoming agitated, and the officers backed off.
When the officers tried to scatter, Woods allegedly smashed one of the hive lids and flipped it off the trailer causing the bees to swing around, stinging officers and other bystanders. While she was doing this, Woods adorned a professional beekeeper suit that protected her as she towed the bees to the front door of the house to stop the eviction.
In a statement to the newsroom, Sheriff Nick Cocchi said that Woods had put people’s lives in danger as several officers on duty are allergic to bees. “We had one of our staff members taken to the hospital. Luckily, he was all right.” Cocchi said. “I support people’s rights to protest peacefully; however, when individuals cross the line and put my staff and the general public’s lives in danger, I promise we will arrest you.” Sheriff Cocchi added.
She was lucky the officer who was taken to the hospital is all right. Otherwise, she would be facing manslaughter charges. Woods was charged with four counts of assault and battery using a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct, and three counts of assault using a dangerous weapon.
Chief Deputy of the Civil Process Office, Robert Hoffman, lamented that he had never witnessed anything like that before in his life of leading the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office. He said he was grateful no one died in the incident since an allergy is something serious, and “I’m hopeful that the out-of-county protesters will always reconsider their positions while taking such a hard stand in future because they will be charged and prosecuted.”
“Certainly, when serving eviction notices, we are always prepared for protests. However, a majority of the agitated groups do so with the understanding that we are only doing our statutory duties in accordance with the law.” Sheriff Cocchi added.
No information has been released as to Woods’ connection to the property, although she did go through an eviction herself. There were other protesters at the scene.