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Trooper hit with stun gun results in charges

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NEW SHARON – A state trooper was reportedly hit in the face and neck with a stun gun by a 65-year-old woman as he was trying to arrest her on a warrant issued Wednesday afternoon.

Maine State Police Trooper Aaron Turcotte arrived at the home of Carol A. Murphy, 65, of New Sharon, to place her under arrest on a warrant issued for not paying a fine stemming from a 2005 animal cruelty conviction.

In March of 2004, the state’s Animal Welfare Program went into Murphy’s home at 248 Lane Road and found numerous under-fed animals living in piles of feces inside her home. Murphy was tried and convicted by a jury for cruelty to animals and four charges of failing to have a license to have exotic animals. She was sentenced to six months in jail with all but 24 hours suspended, one year of probation, fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $3,174 in restitution. She was also banned for life from having animals.

In his report, Turcotte said he received a tip from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals organization that Murphy had animals living with her again. According to court records, Turcotte found she was wanted on a warrant for failing to pay a $1,000 fine associated with the animal cruelty conviction. With an arrest warrant in hand, the trooper arrived at Murphy’s home at 3:35 p.m. Wednesday to find Murphy out in front of her home. Several roosters, he said, were walking around the front yard.

He advised her he had a warrant for her arrest and asked if she wanted to lock up her house before going to jail.

“Murphy told me the warrant was no good and I could not arrest her,” Turcotte said. She went back inside her home and shut the door. He approached the front door, opened the storm door and knocked on the door. He said he could see, through a window, a large dog jump at Murphy.

The door was slightly ajar and “I could smell a strong odor of feces coming from inside the home. Several dogs barked,” he said and later added he also heard a donkey bray from somewhere in her house. Murphy then appeared at the door and, as Turcotte held open the storm door wider for her to exit, he said he was hit with by a stun gun.

“I felt something striking my face and neck, jolting me,” he said in his report.

The officer then saw Murphy was holding a stun gun and he ordered her to drop it, “which she refused to do and she began to advance towards me.”

Turcotte pulled out a canister of pepper spray and tried to hit Murphy in the face but because of the wind, it didn’t seem to affect her, he said. He then stepped closer to her and made sure the spray went into her eyes.

Dazed by the spray she allegedly continued to point the stun gun at him but he grabbed her by the arms and pulled her to the ground and tried to get her onto her stomach, according to his report. Telling her he needed her hands to cuff her, she refused and held them under her, so he put his knee into her back and wrestled her left hand onto her back and was then able to apply handcuffs, Turcotte said.

Murphy is charged with assault on an officer, criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and criminal use of an electronic weapon, all Class C felonies; and refusing to submit to arrest, a Class D crime. Appearing today in Franklin County Superior Court, bail was set at $10,000 cash or $100,000 worth of property. Conditions of release include not possessing any weapons, including electronic weapons, and she is prohibited from possessing any animals or pets.

According to Lt. Don Pomelow of State Police barracks Troop C of which Turcotte is assigned, Turcotte did not require medical attention after being hit by a stun gun with a listed output of 975,000 volts. “He’s doing fine,” Pomelow said of Turcotte today.

Murphy’s animals, including a donkey, have been removed by the state and placed in temporary care. Her next court date is currently scheduled for Jan. 22, 2010.

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4 Comments

  1. Can someome please explain to me how a HUGE fine like that can get swept under the carpet for 5 1/2 years?

  2. Geez 975,000 volts holy crap that would stop a horse! Should’ve shot the old bitty with his 9mm instead of pepper spray!

  3. This woman obviously has some serious mental problems and needs to be sent to a mental hospital. Not only is she cruel, she is also vengeful. She probably also has a deep seated fear of being alone and that’s probably why she hoards so many animals. I hope she didn’t use the stun gun on those animals. Maybe SHE needs some shock treatment.

  4. Carol was trying to get a “due process rights” case against state officials heard somewhere other than in Maine, She had sent it to Arizona, where it was dismissed on October 13, for lack of “jurisdiction.” The next day… bam, the cops went to get her. Coincidence? PETA are the ones who called the police. They’re the group which criticized Obama for whacking a fly on national television! John Stossel reported about that this summer.

    Here’s more about PETA: http://cei.org/gencon/019,05093.cfm

    I posted Carol’s story at my website, http://www.dirtydecisions.com

    There you’ll also find a link to the cases Carol and others are parties to in actions involving the state of Maine.

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