Simon Fearn
A beekeeper-turned-activist has been jailed after unleashing an angry swarm on police officers to try and save her friend from eviction.
In scenes reminiscent of the Nicolas Cage remake of The Wicker Man, a jury was shown bodycam footage from October 2022 in which Rebecca Woods pulls up outside a home in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, while police were there serving eviction papers.
Woods, 59, then begins opening one of the boxes on the back of her truck, to which an alarmed police officer responds: “She’s opening the bees!”
A tussle between Woods and officers resulted in one of the boxes falling over, releasing a swarm of ‘highly agitated bees‘, with another police officer saying: “To release bees in front of an eviction, that seems a little excessive.”
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When Woods started opening more of the boxes, she was forced to the ground, handcuffed and led away by police.
As a result of her actions, several police officers were stung multiple times, and one was even hospitalised.
When one of the officers told Woods some of the deputies were allergic to bee stings, she responded: “Oh, you’re allergic? Good.”
Humans weren't the only casualties. Thousands of bees died during the incident, Hampden County Sheriff’s Office said, with some of the hives being crushed as Woods fought with cops, and others dying after they’d stung deputies.
Woods said she was inspired to advocate for others after being a victim of several evictions herself, People reported.
She argued her friend was almost 80 and had cancer, but was still being turfed out of his home.
Woods’ lawyer Mary Saldarell said: “It really was just a sincere hope that he would not suffer the humiliation and devastation of going through an eviction, of losing your home.”
But honeyed words from her legal team couldn’t save Woods from a six-month prison sentence after she was convicted of four misdemeanour counts of assault and battery and two counts of reckless assault.
Hampton County Sheriff Nick Cocchi said in a statement: “This was unlike anything our team has ever experienced.
“Our deputies were carrying out a lawful court order and were met with a deliberate act that put lives in danger.
“We are grateful the jury recognised the seriousness of what occurred and the risk it posed to our staff and the community.”
Police added that Woods failed to stop the eviction, and that decisions involving evictions were decided by the courts, not the sheriff’s department.
Hampden police said in a statement: “Our deputies face unpredictable and often dangerous situations in the course of their duties. They deserve to do their jobs safely - and today’s verdict reinforces that expectation.”