http://rutlandherald.com/article/20141101/NEWS02/711019936
Larry Fleury, 59, of Springfield, has been found not competent to stand trial on charges of trying to torch a Springfield Police cruiser.
Photo: PHOTO By ERIC FRANCISPublished November 1, 2014 in the Rutland Herald
Charges dropped in cruiser damage case
By ERIC FRANCIS
CORRESPONDENT
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Criminal charges have been dropped against a Springfield man who allegedly poured several gallons of gasoline into the air vent of a police cruiser in August.
Larry Fleury, 59, was ruled not competent to stand trial and returned to the Brattleboro Retreat for mental health treatment after a court hearing this week.
Fleury had been facing a felony charge of attempted arson and a misdemeanor vandalism count for the Aug. 8 incident, which wasn’t discovered until that night.
Police dispatchers went back through the video from one of the surveillance cameras at the station and said they saw Fleury arrive in a taxi and empty a red gas can into one of the cruisers, which was parked behind the station.
The incident happened hours after Fleury had angrily dealt with Springfield Police officers who were summoned to his home to protect a man sent by a bank to repossess Fleury’s car.
Police initially said the car reeked of gasoline and appeared unsafe to operate. But Springfield Police Chief Douglas Johnston said Thursday that once the car was professionally cleaned, at a cost of $75, it was returned to the fleet and is still being used.
Mental health workers testified in court that Fleury has been diagnosed in the past with paranoid schizophrenia and is supposed to be on medication to help with that condition.
Springfield Police said that several times in the days leading up to the gasoline incident Fleury had made threats of violence including statements that he planned to burn down or blow up the entire town and kill police officers.
Judge Karen Carroll said the Brattleboro Retreat was an appropriate place to hold Fleury for the next few days until the court can appoint him a guardian and schedule a hospitalization hearing.
RE: Judge Karen Carroll said the Brattleboro Retreat was an appropriate place to hold Fleury for the next few days until the court can appoint him a guardian and schedule a hospitalization hearing.
ReplyDeleteNo, it's more like "Judge Karen Carroll said it was appropriate in this case to look the other way and forget it ever happened so that the judicial system will eventually be able to return this perpetrator to the streets where Springfield's police and citizens will have to deal with him all over again.
Time to impeach a judge, I'd say.
I wish it was that easy. There is an election next week that again gives the citizens of Springfield an opportunity for change. But a populous of mouth breathing, low information voters will again send the same liberals to Montpelier that graced us with Karen Carroll. So until we see fit to vote from the roof tops, nothing will change.
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