Vermont State Police Trooper Stacia Geno puts Mason Thompson’s car into an impound garage at the Hartford Police Station shortly after midnight on Friday morning. (Eric Francis Photo)
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By Eric Francis, Standard Correspondent
QUECHEE – Hartford Police say a teenager from Woodstock violently resisted arrest late Thursday evening, in an incident that reportedly sent two Hartford police officers to the hospital with head injuries after the teen was pulled over for alleged speeding along Route 4 in Quechee.
Mason Thompson, 19, a WUHS graduate who attends Castleton University, is due to be arraigned Friday afternoon at the courthouse in downtown White River Junction on charges related to the alleged Thursday incident.
Late Thursday evening Hartford Police Officers Eric Clifford and Fred Peyton were both taken by Hartford Ambulance to the emergency room at the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center where they were treated for head injuries and then released around 3 a.m., Hartford Police Major Brad Vail confirmed during the early hours of the morning.
Hartford Police Chief Phil Kasten said the incident, which he described as the most serious injuries to a Hartford officer allegedly inflicted by a suspect in recent memory, began shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday when Officer Clifford spotted Thompson’s silver Subaru Forester driving erratically on Route 4 near the intersection of Center of Town Road and pulled it over.
Officer Peyton arrived a short time later as backup and the men were putting Thompson through a series of “field sobriety exercises” when he suddenly “assaulted, struck and pushed” the officers, Chief Kasten said from the hospital.
In the ensuing struggle, Officer Clifford was pushed to the ground and struck his head on the pavement, causing him to loose consciousness at one point during the fight, the chief said.
Hartford Police Sgt. Connie Kelley arrived on the scene and together the three officers managed to get Thompson into handcuffs and place him in the back of a cruiser before an ambulance was called to transport the injured pair to the hospital, police said.
Vermont State Police troopers and a Norwich Police officer also responded to help at the scene and Thompson’s car was seized and impounded at the Hartford Police Station.