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A Massachusetts woman was arrested and charged with assault after she allegedly sent a swarm of bees on sheriff’s deputies trying to execute an eviction notice.
The incident took place in Longmeadow, Massachusetts on Wednesday, Oct. 12, when Rorie pulled Susan Woods, 55, to the 49 Memery Lane crime scene in her blue Nissan Xterra dragging multicolored beehives.
According to a Hampden County Sheriff’s Department official, Woods pulled up around 9:15 a.m. and immediately went to the trailer being pulled by her car.
Woods left her dog in the car while she tried to open the container with the bees.
While the woman was working to release the swarm, a sheriff’s deputy tried to stop her, according to Sheriff’s Department officials.
However, it was too late and some of the bees began to escape, forcing the deputy to retreat.
After repeated attempts to remove the lid, Woods instead decided to smash the top and flip the container off the flatbed.
The bees were immediately agitated and “extremely aggressive,” authorities said.
Nearby bystanders and officers were stung as the insects swarmed.
Rorie Susan Woods, 55, donned a beekeeper costume after she released the bugs on sheriff’s officers and bystanders near her boyfriend’s house
Woods, 55, has been charged with assault and use of a dangerous weapon
The bees were boxed on Woods’ trailer attached to her SUV
Woods, who owns the hives, then dons a beekeeper suit to protect himself. The middle-aged woman then took a tower of the bees to the front door of the house.
Law enforcement officers said she was using the insects to disrupt an eviction that had been “stop and go” for more than a year and a half.
According to Zillow, the house in question, at 49 Memery Lane, is 9,563 square feet with seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms. Its estimated value is $1,515 million.
Public records show that it has been in the custody of one family since 1979.
The Hampden County Sheriff’s Civil Process Division files hundreds of eviction notices each year, according to HCSD.
Woods’ unusual tactics were new to experienced deputies.
“In all my years leading the Civil Affairs Division of the Hampden County Sheriff, I have never seen anything like it,” said Robert Hoffman, chief deputy for the Civil Affairs Division.
The effort this woman made may have been new to Massachusetts delegates, but the idea actually has historical roots dating back to 19th-century Ireland.
Irishmen being evicted would use creative means to hold onto their land, often using boiling water and bees to repel police officers and deputies carrying out evictions.
“What was considered one of the most formidable items in the defense and resistance program was the release of a beehive, but it flew down the chimney,” according to an 1887 article in The Clare Journal, mashable reported.
The woman had dumped the bees from the trailer in an attempt to agitate them, according to officials at the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department
Sheriffs’ deputies tried unsuccessfully to contain the animals after the bees were released by Woods, even struggling with the woman to stop her.
After Woods carried the hive to the door, she reportedly tried to make the bees angrier, although it was not described how.
When the bees calmed down, Woods was arrested and transported to the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Facility.
“I’m just thankful no one died because bee allergies are serious. I hope that in the future these protesters from outside the province will consider taking such extreme measures because they will be charged and prosecuted.”
Woods is facing four counts of assault and battery using a dangerous weapon, officials say.
She has also been charged with three counts of assault with a “dangerous weapon” and one count of disorderly conduct, officials said Wednesday.
The house where 55-year-old Rorie Woods unleashed a colony of bees on deputies during the final stages of an eviction
A spokesperson for HCSD said the deputies were in the final phase of this eviction, the removal phase, when the incident occurred.
“We are always prepared for protests when it comes to evictions, but a majority of the groups protesting understand that we are simply doing our legal duty in accordance with state law,” said Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi.
“But this woman, who has traveled here, has put lives at risk, as some of the staff on site are allergic to bees. We had an employee go to the hospital and luckily he was fine or she would be charged with manslaughter.
“I support people’s right to protest peacefully, but if you cross the border and endanger my staff and the public, I promise you will be arrested.”
Woods was released on personal recognition, according to the Boston Globe and she will next appear at a pre-trial hearing scheduled for December 9.
in 2018, MassLive reported that Woods had been evicted from her own home in Hadley, Massachusetts after years of struggle.
Woods, who was disabled at the time, said she needed $10,000 bail to continue the appeal of her eviction.
When the article came out, she was living in a tent on a friend’s property.
Woods told the Massachusetts news outlet that her belongings in storage had been destroyed. She also said she was battling cancer and treatments were interrupted by the eviction.
“The eviction process is clearly armed by the courts to thwart my appeal, which has every chance of success thanks to case law,” Woods said.
It is unclear where the woman has lived since 2018.