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Man accused of threatening a family member with a knife, biting police officer

3 mins read
Jeremy Clifford (Photo by Franklin County Detention Center)

FARMINGTON – A local man has been charged with threatening a family member with a knife, assaulting a police officer and refusing to submit to arrest, following an incident that occurred Wednesday afternoon.

Jeremy Clifford, 26 of Farmington, has been arrested on charges of domestic violence threatening with a dangerous weapon and assault on an officer, both Class C felonies, as well as refusing to submit to arrest, a misdemeanor. According to an affidavit filed with the Franklin County court system by Farmington Police Officer Jesse Clement, police were dispatched to an apartment at Thompson Walton Court at 1:20 p.m. Wednesday after one of Clifford’s relatives reported that the Farmington man had threatened her with a knife. Specifically, Clifford allegedly pointed the knife at his relative and reportedly told her “come and try to take this from me, you will be dead.”

Clement and Officer Ryan Rosie initially met with another family member outside of the residence, with that man informing the officers that Clifford had threatened family members with knives previously, showing them a photo of the knives on the kitchen table.

The officers got permission from the family member to enter the residence and, upon knocking on the rear bedroom door, met with Clifford. Rosie attempted to question Clifford about what had happened that morning.

“Clifford made some comments about ‘the blood in his head kept arguing with him’ and that ‘my brother kept threatening me so I kept a knife on me,'” Clement wrote in the affidavit. “After a few more questions it was apparent that we were not going to get a statement from Clifford so Officer Rosie advised Clifford that he was under arrest.”

Clifford then ran towards the bedroom, the affidavit indicates, with the officers grabbing his arms to prevent him from leaving the room. Clifford grabbed the handle of Clement’s Taser and got it part way out of its holster before the officers pulled Clifford’s arms away. Rosie pulled Clifford to the ground, while still standing, and was then bit by Clifford on the leg. Clement used his Taser on Clifford and the officers eventually got handcuffs on Clifford.

An ambulance was called by Clement to treat Rosie and Clifford. Several officers from a number of agencies arrived to assist getting Clifford to the ambulance and to collect evidence.  Police discovered a large knife on the nightstand in the bedroom that Clifford had tried to run into, Clement wrote in the affidavit. The relative that made the initial report confirmed that it was the same knife used to threaten her that morning.

Clifford was eventually transported to Franklin County Detention Center. Bail was later set at $1,000 cash, including  conditions of no contact between Clifford and two family members.

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33 Comments

  1. Our police are doing a great job keeping citizens safe. How about we give a big shout out…Thank you

  2. Stories like this remind us that while the Black Lives Matter movement is correct that there is systemic racism and real problems that need to be addressed, our police officers have a difficult and dangerous job, and deserve our support. It isn’t choosing one side or another. We should all thank and support those who do the difficult and often thankless job of keeping us safe.

  3. Would have been better dealt with by a mental health professional than a cop. These things don’t need to be violent.

  4. BLM is not correct. You have been successfully indoctrinated. Feelings are not facts, personal responsibility matters. Emotional maturity matters. Character matters. The systematic breakdown of the functional family is the root of these problems.

  5. david,
    Ring Ring,,!! Time to wake up now!! HELLO!!

    I assume you’re baiting here but I’ll bite,
    If a mental health professional should have been called instead of a police officer IN YOUR OPINION,,,
    “YOU” tell that to the family who was in physical danger from this guy. Go ahead tell them,,

    This wasn’t “COAXING A CAT OUT OF A TREE” …

    It’s comments like yours that REMIND US how “dangerous” the progressive agenda really is.
    Good Job. Keep Talking.

    We need more Peace Officers now than ever before.
    Thanks to our Police, no one was stabbed by this violent person.

    Indeed it’s true that,
    Everything Is Beautiful.

  6. Scott how does this guy committing a crime prove anything about systemic racism? (The cops didn’t treat him unfairly.) Or black lives matter any more than mine or yours? Also, an educated person like yourself should study up on how to use punctuation.

  7. Sounds like he has mental health issues that need addressing immediately.

  8. Captain Planet, I believe you may want to reread Scott Erbs comment. He never said the police treated this man unfairly.

  9. Does Farmington not have a Crisis Intervention Trained officer?
    This man obviously lives with serious mental health issues and a CIT officer could have deescalated the situation. Please connect with NAMI Maine about training.
    Thank you for trying, hopefully this man can get help. I am so glad no officers or family members were hurt.

  10. It is fairly obvious that there is a mental health issue involved here. However, I doubt very much that the every day mental health worker would have been able to handle this situation unless trained as a police officer. I am so disgusted with all the public who feel our police are out of line. Just stop and think “seriously” as to how you would feel if someone threatened you with a knife or gun. There is so much anger in our world that no one can anticipate how someone will react when one wrong word can set an individual off. I thank my Lord that there are men and women who dedicate their lives to trying to keep me (and all of you) safe. It is a dangerous occupation and I know I couldn’t do it. So before you criticize our police officers, look at the entire
    picture before passing judgment. God bless all our police officers and first responders. Thank you all !

  11. j, I believe you may want to reread my comment and try to catch the reference to ‘systemic racism’, or should I say lack there of….

  12. “Systemic racism doesn’t exist.”

    While I am not suggesting this article has anything to do with racism, I did want to chime in and note most of you have no business denying systemic racism exists when nearly your entire community is white.

    So of course you don’t see it- but it doesn’t mean it’s not there. I’ve never seen Europe before but I am not about to deny its existence.

  13. Maybe this would’ve been handled better by someone with mental health training, but they didn’t call Evergreen, they called the police.

    Maybe a CIT trained officer would’ve been more effective but did the caller alert dispatch it could be a mental health crisis?

    Was the outcome here a clear cut case of the wrong professional using the wrong approach or was the officer properly trained, followed protocol and made an educated decision to take immediate action to prevent Clifford from causing harm to himself or others?

    When you call 911 do you want a series of questions to determine who should respond or do you want a swift response?

    Mental health crises and substance abuse can look the same.

    Scott Erb didn’t say this was an example of racism but he did recognize that this guy is black, brown or whatever the PC term is now and take advantage of the opportunity.

    Scott, perhaps you could educate us all on systemic racism v individual racism as most of us are offended by the phrase because we judge people by character rather than color, not realizing there are different levels of racism.

    Criminal activity should be treated as such, despite skin tone. There’s another story on this site with no mention of racism. No he probably had mental health issues. No excuses, just criticism.

  14. My agency provides mobile crisis services for Franklin County and I can assure you that we work very collaboratively with law enforcement to provide mental health services. I have done crisis work in other counties and our law enforcement agencies here are by far the best to work with. They periodically receive CIT and we are invited to participate in those trainings. My staff is not trained to physically manage combative, aggressive individuals, particularly those that are armed, and I would never allow my crisis workers to respond to potentially dangerous situations without police support to protect them and the client. We often request assistance from our fantastic officers and they are always happy to help us and we respond to these situations together. The FCDC also has a contracted provider that provides crisis and other mental health services to inmates directly in the jail.

  15. Hmmm writes,
    “most of you have no business denying systemic racism exists when nearly your entire community is white.”.

    Ok,,
    If that’s true, then you have no business calling me a white racist if your community is black.
    You need to understand that you can’t understand…
    How’s that.

    I don’t care if you are “magenta”, you have no business labeling anyone you don’t know.

    Again today,
    Everything Is Beautiful.

  16. I (nor anyone I am aware of) never called you racist. If you are taking this all so personally- feeling like it’s about YOU-perhaps there may be some truth?

  17. Thank you Amanda, I was thinking the same thing how only this article is getting comments and not the “other” guy that was also arrested for a domestic issue.
    Let the pandering continue hypocrites.

  18. So the source of this “story” is an affidavit from an officer on scene? Think about it.

  19. Hmm
    The fact that YOU took it personally enough to feel the need to defend this blanket accusation of global racism might mean you see the leaky boat you accusers are in?
    You might want to ponder on that …
    We are “still” Free to think what we all want.
    Until you guys take over…Ha.

    Everything Is Beautiful!.
    Indeed.

  20. I did two things:

    1) Point out that our community can offer little commentary on systemic racism when our diversity is nil. I said nothing about global racism- you interjected that thought.

    I then:

    2) Respond to your comment in which you seemed to think my comment was suggesting that somehow made you racist.

    You reacted. You took it personally. You made blankety incorrect assumptions about what I believe- “you guys”. Let me guess, your reductionist mental model thinks I vote democratically? “You guys” comments tend to come from reductionist thinkers. And this is the inherent problem with American voters: If someone doesn’t bow down to your ideology and thoughts, they’re automatically “others”. Wicked smart.

    Cheers!

  21. hmmm,
    Thank you for listing out your multiple accomplishments for us (in case we may have missed them..).
    You had mentioned not making it about “you”,,
    Ok,, who is all the “I” did this ,,”I” then did that , language in your comment all about??
    Hmmmm.?
    You,, of course.

    The “movement” you use for your own purposes would be much better off without the cluelees SJW mucking up the truth that,
    All are created equal.

    Great Job!

    It Is A Fact That,,
    Everything Is Beautiful.

  22. You don’t even make any sense at this point.

    Quit being reactive and sensitive. Just because systemic racism exists, doesn’t mean folks are calling you racist. You sound like a grumpy old man.

    Move out of Maine, live in the city for a while. Live amongst something other then nearly entirely white people. Live in environments with industry and development. Until then, you have no legs to stand on- how can you speak about something when it doesn’t impact you or your community? You can only try.

  23. Hmmmm you should go back to the article about the “protest” in Farmington and you will find you are wrong about the diversity in the community being “nil”, it was very clearly stated that poc are at UMF and they have experienced “racism”.

  24. hmm
    If I don’t make sense to you,,
    I’m perfectly ok with that.

    Your road map to a higher understand,,
    Already done all of them and delightfully conclude an impasse with you.
    Progressive Ideals =Me Me Me..
    Lol,,Seattle hasn’t changed much since I lived there.
    Still a loony bin.

    Now I’m back where I belong.
    Everything Is Beautiful.
    Ayuh’

    Tim Scott for President!!
    ASAP!

  25. Awww- you aren’t wrong, but there are a lot of folks who deny systemic racism in this community. They deny it because they don’t see it by virtue of the fact diversity really is fairly minimal. Farmington is a bit of an exception I’d argue, because of the school. But, when it’s hard for communities with highly diverse populations to see racism- it certainly isn’t easier here.

  26. “Move out of Maine.”

    Uh, no. Why should anyone have to uproot their life to have an opinion here? If that’s the case, no one can have an opinion about abortion who hasn’t had a child. Opposed to marijuana? Go get high! Ban guns? Go to the shooting range. Bear baiting is unsportsmanlike? Go bear hunting. Police should be defunded? Do a ride along in Chicago.

    “Live in the city for a while. Live amongst something other than nearly entirely white people.”

    I did that. Do I get to have an opinion now?

    “Live in environments with industry and development.”

    Do you not know your local history?

    “How can you speak about something when it doesn’t impact you or your community?”

    Why, then, are people protesting here? Serving refreshments in a park where my children weren’t allowed to play? Why are they holding signs like “call out your racist neighbor” & “your silence is deafening”? Spreading hate here impacts here.

    Speak up or you’re part of the problem. What’s that? Oh, you don’t agree with me? Well you have no business talking about this!

    Scott, I hope your absence since derailing this conversation means you are diligently compiling unbiased information to educate us all on systemic racism.

    I have to go now, my white privilege is calling. But I’ll leave you with this…

    Elder wisdom…you learn more when your ears are open than you do when your mouth is.

  27. When you have one finger pointed at someone else there are three fingers pointed right back at you. You spot it, you’ve got it. Emotional maturity matters.

  28. Criminal gets arrested after threatening family member and fighting with law enforcement.

    End of story. One race. Human race. Good triumphed over evil. That’s it. GOD BLESS OUR LAW ENFORCEMENT

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