Man and son arrested after knife melee

A chaotic melee Thursday night in Springfield involved a half-dozen people, "a muzzle-loading rifle, multiple knives, a hatchet, a (large) wooden cross and a table leg similar in size to a baseball bat," police said.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150131/NEWS02/701319909

Published January 31, 2015 in the Rutland Herald Man and son arrested after knife melee By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A chaotic melee Thursday night in Springfield involved a half-dozen people, “a muzzle-loading rifle, multiple knives, a hatchet, a (large) wooden cross and a table leg similar in size to a baseball bat,” police said. Three Springfield residents, including a father and son, were arrested. They answered charges Friday in White River Junction criminal court. Paul Lachapelle Sr., 54, pleaded innocent to the only charges directly related to the incident: two felony counts of aggravated assault and two misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment. Springfield Police said Jennifer Gould, 33, called 911 at about 11 p.m. Thursday and hoarsely told dispatchers: “Send a lot of cops! He’s trying to kill everyone!” Officer Jeremy Fitzgibbons said in an affidavit that he and other officers from Springfield, Chester and the Vermont State Police responded to the apartment building on Union Street in Springfield. They were familiar with the Lachapelle residence, the officer said, because the apartment was “alleged to be involved in the use and distribution of drugs, including ‘bath salts’.” Fitzgibbons said the officers ran up a staircase to the residence with guns drawn. They heard screaming and a dog barking, and Fitzgibbons said Lachapelle was waving a 3-foot wooden cross over his head. Lachapelle and his wife, Karen, who tried to prevent police from arresting her husband by wrapping her arms around him, were both handcuffed, the affidavit said. Fitzgibbons said several different versions of events were offered during various interviews. Gould told police that at one point Lachapelle pointed a .50-caliber muzzle loader at her and Karen Lachapelle, adding that she feared she was about to die. Gould said she was also struck with a red baseball bat, which police later determined was a table leg, and she was chased into the attic at knife point. It was from there, she said, that she called police. William Hodge, 48, told police he, too, had been staying at the Lachapelle’s apartment and he showed police a small cut to his hand that he said had occurred when Paul Lachapelle came after him with a 5-inch knife. Police said they found that knife stuck in the wall of the bedroom where they recovered the muzzleloader rifle. They said the rifle was primed and loaded but did not have a firing cap attached. Karen Lachapelle told police her husband “had been drinking that night and that was why he was out of control.” But a breath test at the police station did not register any alcohol in his system, police said. Gould told police that both of the Lachapelles had “smoked bath salts earlier that night,” the affidavit said. Officer Steven Neily’s affidavit said that while Paul Lachapelle was in the police cruiser he said he wanted to hurt Hodge and “make him feel pain,” and that Hodge “doesn’t deserve to live.” Lachapelle allegedly said it was “a good thing (police) showed up because he would probably have been charged with manslaughter.” Lachapelle was released on conditions after his plea Friday, as were his son, Paul Lachapelle Jr., and Gould. The latter two were arrested not because of the incident but because police found outstanding warrants for them on minor, unrelated offenses.