Barre police use Taser for first time
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TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: December 12, 2009
BARRE - A member of the Barre City police officer has used a Taser for the first time, employing it to subdue a woman who reportedly smashed a vehicle with a tire iron in the McDonald's parking lot in South Barre on Friday.
Police from Barre Town and Barre City responded to the fast food restaurant on Route 14 and eventually arrested Elizabeth Wright, 47, of Shelburne, for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Police said when they arrived on the scene they learned that Wright had been burning a tire and some sneakers in the parking lot, in addition to smashing up a car that belonged to the man she was with.
Barre Town Police Officer Ronald Morissette was outside the McDonald's with Wright when she began to fight with him, police said.
Morissette was able to get Wright to the ground, police said, but she continued to struggle and he could not get her under control.
Corporal Henry Duhaime used his Taser on Wright, which successfully made her "stop her assaultive behavior," according to a police news release.
EMS workers were called to the scene, which is department protocol when a Taser is used, police said.
Wright was uninjured, police said, but she was taken to Central Vermont Medical Center.
Barre Town Police Chief Mike Stevens said he wasn't 100 percent sure why Wright was taken to the hospital.
Both he and Duhaime said there were no obvious physical injuries. Stevens declined to declare it a mental health issue but said it definitely wasn't a physical problem.
"She was burning tires and sneakers in a parking lot and fighting with police, so it definitely wasn't physical," said Stevens.
The Tasers have been in the hands of the police force since August after the city went through some debate about the groundrules and training require for their use. The incident marked the first time the Barre City Police Department used one of the Tasers, Duhaime said.
Neither police officer was injured.
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