Protester accused of unleashing bee swarm on deputies to stop eviction

Wanting to stop sheriff’s deputies from carrying out a court-ordered eviction last week, Rorie Woods turned to a “dangerous weapon,” authorities said.

Woods allegedly pulled up to the home where the eviction was taking place, got out of her SUV and walked back to the flatbed trailer she had towed to the tony neighborhood in Longmeadow, Mass., a town of nearly 16,000 on the Connecticut state line.

Then, she unleashed hundreds of bees from the hives she had brought, according to the sheriff’s office.

Multiple deputies were stung before they could arrest Woods, officials said. She has since been charged with four counts of felony assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, three counts of felony assault with a dangerous weapon, and disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

Woods “put lives in danger as several of the staff on scene are allergic to bees,” Sheriff Nick Cocchi said in a statement. “We had one staff member go [to] the hospital and luckily, he was alright or she would be facing manslaughter charges.”

Woods, 55, has pleaded not guilty to all eight charges. She could not immediately be reached Wednesday, and her lawyer didn’t respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post.

About 9:15 a.m. on Oct. 12, deputies arrived at a five-bed, 5½-bath colonial valued at nearly $1.3 million to execute an eviction order, the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. Several protesters had gathered at the apex of the cul-de-sac. Informed that the occupant was at the courthouse in a last-ditch effort to delay the eviction, deputies waited for him to return.

Hmm, I can see calling sicing your dog on someone “assault with a deadly weapon” because you can train a dog to attack.

Are they going to argue in court that she trained these bees to attack cops? Otherwise I don’t think this rises above the level of reckless endangerment.

“avoidance of eviction as first remedy to problems”

I don’t know where you operate, but where I’m at eviction is just about the only remedy still legally available to landlords.

They insist that their interests are in their right to make money without limitation, rather than seeing the problem as national one of providing shelter for all Americans and that their interest, including financial, lies in joining that cause

Socialism - the jackass who wrote this hasn’t got a clue about economics, property ownership, property values, etc. while no longer in the landlord business, I can personally testify to the exaggerated idea that tenants have of their position. Had a place that belonged to my mother who died. Rented it out at a fairly low rent primarily to keep squatters out. Got the zoning changed and sold it to a developer. The tenants were incensed that I didn’t offer it to them for rent to own. I told them at their rent rate it would take them 150 years to pay for the place at their cheap rent rate and that would be if I didn’t charge interest. That shut them up. They found another place, the developer let them out of the lease, and then demolished the house. So now it’s a vacant lot awaiting proper economic times for development. And the tenants got a lesson in what a good deal they were getting. I was getting tired of them anyway. The handle on the toilet broke and they called a plumber who charged me $250 to fix an $10 part.

“several of the staff on scene are allergic to bees,” Sheriff Nick Cocchi said”

Im sure thats documented in their medical records and they each have up to date epi-pens with them that day? Seeing how they are allergic and bees are everywhere.

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