A 55-year-old woman from Massachusetts has been arrested and charged with assault after she unleashed a swarm of extremely aggressive bees on sheriff’s deputies in a bid to stop an eviction order.
The stinging incident occurred in Longmeadow on October 12 when Rorie Susan Woods pulled up in her Nissan Xterra that was towing some beehives.
Leaving her dog inside the blue car, she tried to open the container with the aggressive bees but a deputy stopped her.
However, it was already too late as many bees have escaped and caused the officers to retreat.
After her failed attempts to remove the lid, the woman then decided to smash the top and flip the container off.
The agitated bees swarmed and stung deputies and bystanders. Woods then wore a beekeeper suit to protect herself from the bees.
According to police, the middle-aged woman was using the bees to stop an eviction that had been ‘stop and go’ for more than a year.
Woods’ unusual approach was a new one for the experienced officers.
“Never in all my years of leading the Hampden County Sheriff’s Civil Process Division have I seen something like this,” Robert Hoffman, chief deputy of the Civil Process Division, said.
While her tactic to fight off officers carrying out evictions may have been new for the experienced deputies, the strategy has been used in Ireland since 1800s.
According to an article from The Clare Journal in 1887: “What was calculated upon as one of the most formidable items in the program of defense and defiance was the letting loose of a hive of bees, but these took flight by the chimney.”
Officials said that Woods faces four counts of assault and battery. She has also been charged with three counts of assault by means if a ‘dangerous weapon.’
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