Police: Man tried to hurt self in cell

A Springfield man was ordered held for a psychiatric evaluation after he reportedly tried to harm himself in a courtroom cell this week.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20141011/NEWS02/710119937

Thomas Chase II, 42, seen in court earlier this year, was ordered this week to undergo a mental competency evaluation after he allegedly threatened neighbors and police in Springfield. Photo: PHOTO BY ERIC FRANCISPublished October 11, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Police: Man tried to hurt self in cell By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A Springfield man was ordered held for a psychiatric evaluation after he reportedly tried to harm himself in a courtroom cell this week. Thomas Chase II, 42, whose court records show a history of violent confrontations with police and expressing suicidal thoughts, was to have been arraigned Tuesday on a felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon as well as misdemeanor charges of obstructing traffic, unlawful mischief, and violating release conditions. But he never made it into the courtroom, as he was allegedly trying to hurt himself in the holding cell at White River Junction criminal court. “He’s banging his head off the cell walls wanting to end it all,” a mental health screener told Judge Karen Carroll. The judge expressed frustration in trying to find an available bed for a psychiatric patient, and said Chase must be kept in custody until a bed opens up. “That’s not appropriate, but I don’t know what else can happen at this point,” Carroll said. Springfield Police Lt. Mark Fountain said Monday’s events started with a 911 call from one of Chase’s neighbors who could hear glass breaking in the apartment building on Wall Street. That call was quickly followed by another from residents who said Chase was threatening to burn down the building and swinging a metal baseball bat at them outside the complex. Cecil Haley later told police he’d grabbed a board and used it to drive Chase away when the man threatened him, his fiancée and his son with the bat. Police found Chase on the sidewalk of the Park Street Bridge. Fountain said Chase threw the bat into some nearby trees and told police “someone was trying to hurt him ... and announcing that he wanted to die and he was going to jump off the Park Street Bridge.” Officers got between Chase and the edge of the bridge, Fountain said, and Chase walked into the road and sat down in the middle of traffic. Police then handcuffed Chase and got him into a police cruiser, where he repeatedly slammed his forehead against metal bars, the affidavit said. Chase also “banged his head off the cell block wall” at the police department, Fountain wrote. Chase suffered cracked and bloodied lips and a gash to his forehead, so police took him to Springfield Hospital for treatment. At the hospital, Fountain said, “Chase sliced his arm with a two-inch razor blade he apparently had hidden in one of his sweatpants pockets.” Chase voluntarily handed over a small plastic bag “with hearts on it” that contained a crystalline powder. He told police it was bath salts, the affidavit said. He had been living under court conditions of release since June due to charges of disorderly conduct at his apartment and the hospital. In August he was arrested again ordered to get mental health counseling after he called police and allegedly said he was barricading himself in his apartment and preparing to confront them. Chase’s court record spans more than a decade and includes many probation violations and convictions for burglary and aggravated domestic assault.