LONGMEADOW, Mass. — A Massachusetts woman is accused of attacking authorities with a swarm of bees to stop a court-ordered eviction in Longmeadow.
On Thursday, the Hampden County Sheriff's Office said on its Facebook page that on Oct. 12 at around 9:30 a.m., Rorie Woods drove up in her Nissan Xterra with a flatbed trailer attached up to a residence as deputies were serving a court-ordered eviction.
"She quickly jumped out of her SUV and started trying to unleash thousand of bees in manufactured hives as a deputy jumped onboard and tried to stop her," the department said in a statement.
The department said the deputy was stung several times in his face and head.
According to the sheriff's office, Woods flipped the entire hive tower off her flatbed, which "extremely agitated" the bees. Deputies said this led to several members of the sheriff's office and other bystanders getting stung, the report said.
Donning a beekeeper suit, deputies were able to arrest Woods as she attempted to a hive closer to the door of the home, according to the statement.
As deputies walked her to a cruiser, one of them told her that he and several other deputies were allergic to bees.
“Oh, you’re allergic? Good,” she allegedly stated back, according to the report.
The sheriff's office said one department staff member was hospitalized after being stung.
The Washington Post reported that several protesters were gathered outside the residence, which Woods yelled at to ask them to take care of her dog, "which she said was unfed, and left in the SUV with thousands of bees swarming outside of it," according to the sheriff's office said.
According to the sheriff's office, the 55-year-old woman did not live at the residence where deputies were serving an eviction notice.
Woods was arrested, arraigned, and released by a judge without having to post bail, but she will appear in court at a later date, the sheriff's office said.
“Never in all my years of leading the Hampden County Sheriff’s Civil Process Division have I seen something like this,” said Robert Hoffman, Chief Deputy of the Civil Process Office, in a statement. "I’m just thankful no one died because bee allergies are serious."