By Eric Francis, Standard Correspondent
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The sight of several state police cruisers traveling “like a blur” westward through Woodstock on Wednesday afternoon was all part of the response to a violent incident that led to a Plymouth man being ordered held without bail.
Vincent Brisson, 49, was brought into the downtown White River Junction courthouse on Thursday afternoon where he sat dejectedly at the defense table as Judge Robert Gerety ordered him held without bail because the judge said that in his opinion Brisson potentially posed an on-going threat to family members.
A public defender entered innocent pleas on Brisson’s behalf to two felony counts of aggravated domestic assault with a deadly weapon as well as to accompanying misdemeanor counts of domestic assault and drunk driving.
Brisson’s wife, Ruth, and 24-year-old daughter, Olivia, called police after they said Brisson allegedly began hitting them with the butt of a loaded rifle and then fired three shots out the backdoor into the ground for emphasis.
In her sworn written statement to police, Olivia Brisson said that her father was “highly intoxicated” when family returned to the home mid-afternoon and that he became enraged because she hadn’t washed the dishes.
Trooper Christopher Blais was first to arrive at the residence on Messer Hill Road in response to the 911 call for help and he spotted Brisson behind the wheel of a Jeep coming down the driveway and ordered Brisson out of it at gunpoint.
After Brisson was handcuffed, he blew a 0.155 percent blood alcohol level on a breath test and claimed that he had not actually struck anyone during the course of the argument at the house, Trooper Gary Salvatore noted in his report with Trooper Joseph Pregent adding in his own separate report that Brisson allegedly told him later when he was being processed at the police station that he’d consumed eight pints of beer starting at noon that day and was driving away from his own house, “In a totally unlawful manner intoxicated.”
“Ruth advised that the last few days have been extremely stressful around the house due to relatives not agreeing to sign over the house to them” as part of a dispute centered over the will belonging her aunt who’d recently died, Trooper Salvatore explained in his affidavit, which was filed with the court.
Brisson “became irate and picked up a kitchen chair and struck Olivia with it” which Ruth said caused her to jump into the fray “to try and protect Olivia” after which “a struggle ensued and they all fell to the floor,” Salvatore wrote.
After Olivia broke free and ran upstairs to call for help, Brisson allegedly struck his wife in the face and head with his fist and then “grabbed his rifle and threatened to kill himself” before he “struck her in the head with the stock of the rifle,” Salvatore wrote, adding that Ruth, “eventually got the rifle away from (her husband) and hid it under the covers of their bed.”
Judge Robert Gerety ordered Brisson held without bail at the conclusion of Thursday’s arraignment, noting that Brisson’s family members had expressed serious concerns about the potential for more violence.
“My pain level is currently about an eight out of ten,” noted Ruth Brisson in her written statement to the troopers, where she added, “I am worried about what he will do when released. I fear he will hurt himself and we will be at risk if he drinks after (his) release.”
For her part, Olivia Brisson described her injuries as “a nine” on the pain scale and said she had been hit by her father during past arguments.
“I’m scared that he’s gonna keep doing this whether some little thing goes wrong or not,” she noted, continuing, “He’s always been a violent man. I want a restraint order against my father whether mom wants it or not. I want to be safe, period.”
Brisson faces a maximum potential penalty of up to 35 years in jail if he were to be convicted of all the charges now pending against him.