Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Man hosed with bear spray during alleged violation

 Rutland Herald
By Brent Curtis
staff writer | September 30,2014
 
Vermont State Police say Sean T. Blake was trying to break into his ex-girlfriend’s Killington home Sunday morning when he was sprayed in the face with a product designed to fend off bears.

The 24-year-old South Burlington man was arrested Sunday — but not for trying to force his way into the Innsbruck Lane home through a window.

After Blake’s ex-girlfriend, Leslie Thompson, and a man who was at the home with her during the incident decided not to give statements to police, he was arrested for consuming alcohol, which is a violation of court-ordered conditions imposed on him by the criminal court in Burlington where he pleaded innocent in August and September to a pair of burglaries and operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent, according to court records.

Blake pleaded innocent Monday to a misdemeanor charge of violating his conditions of release and was freed after his arraignment on conditions of release.

He was arrested at about 5 p.m. Sunday after Thompson called police to report that Blake, who sometimes stayed at her address, was trying to break in.

Earlier in the day Thompson had dropped Blake off in Brattleboro where he was going for substance abuse treatment. When she returned home, she put Blake’s belongings in a bag and left it on her porch because she didn’t want Blake inside her home anymore, she told police.

But Trooper Daniel Meytin wrote that Blake never made it to the clinic in Brattleboro. Instead, he had two run-ins with police in that community who were called to a convenience store for a report that Blake and another man were intoxicated. At noon on Sunday, police were called to the Brattleboro Rehab Clinic for a family fight. During the call, Blake was issued a criminal citation for allegedly violating his court-ordered conditions by consuming alcohol.

How the South Burlington man returned to Killington is unclear, but Thompson told police he arrived at her home shortly before 5 p.m. and began shoving his way through a window.

Thompson told police that she told a friend, 21-year-old Evan Raszkiewicz, to spray Blake with a container of bear deterrent — a potent type of pepper spray used to drive off wild bears.

After using the spray in the home, Blake, Raszkiewicz and Thompson were all forced to leave the dwelling, according to court records.

A test of Blake’s blood-alcohol content at the scene indicated a BAC of 0.053 percent, Meytin wrote.

Blake told the trooper that after he was sprayed he poured part of a beer on himself in an effort to wash away the bear spray and drank the rest.

brent.curtis

@rutlandherald.com

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