Man who allegedly vandalized cruiser to undergo psych evaluation

A Springfield man who police said poured a container of gasoline into a cruiser parked behind the Springfield Police Department has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at the Brattleboro Retreat.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20140812/NEWS02/708129923

Man who allegedly vandalized cruiser to undergo psych evaluation By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A Springfield man who police said poured a container of gasoline into a cruiser parked behind the Springfield Police Department has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at the Brattleboro Retreat. Larry Fleury, 59, sat nearly motionless at the defense table in White River Junction criminal court Monday afternoon as a public defender pleaded innocent on his behalf to a felony charge of third-degree attempted arson and an accompanying misdemeanor count of unlawful mischief. “What is notable is that on four separate occasions (this past week) the defendant made threats of violence against the police,” Windsor County Deputy State’s Attorney David Cahill told Judge Michael Pratt. He added: “From the state’s perspective, we need to take the defendant at his word and assume that he is a risk.” Pratt ordered an inpatient psychiatric evaluation of Fleury to see whether he is competent to stand trial on the charges. Springfield police said Fleury was angry that officers had accompanied a repo man to his house earlier Friday after a bank had ordered his car repossessed. Afterwards, police said, he took a taxi and arrived at the Springfield Police Department just before 5 p.m. with a large kitchen knife sticking out of his back pocket and a red plastic gas can in his hands. Cpl. Walter Morancy and Officer Coriander Santagate wrote in affidavits that they stepped outside to speak with Fleury, and aside from noticing that he had the knife and was still swearing at police for their role in the repossession, he eventually appeared to calm down and leave. It was only later, when police dispatchers reviewed security cameras that they noticed Fleury had walked over to one of their cruisers before he rang the doorbell and “poured gas over the trunk, roof, hood and down inside the fresh air vent,” Morancy wrote. Morancy noted the cruiser has been pulled from service and sent to a repair shop where he said technicians were initially “uncertain what will be needed to make the car safe.” “The fumes from the gas coming in through the vents may be too much (to allow safe operation) of this vehicle until it can be professionally cleaned,” Morancy wrote.