Rutland — A Rutland teen is being charged after a verbal altercation with a Rutland police officer turned into a punching incident, in Depot Park, around 5:30 p.m. July 11.
At its height, the downtown civil disturbance involved several police officers, the chief of police, and unruly young people.
Angelique Bethke, 18, with no known address, was arrested when she first struck Rutland City Police Sgt. Jamie Tarbell in the downtown park.
Tarbell told reporters that Bethke was being processed July 12 in criminal court in Rutland on several misdemeanor charges, including two counts of assault of a police officer, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and unlawful mischief.
As Tarbell told it, fellow officer Gary Tobin attempted to break up a group of unruly young people behind the Amtrak Passenger Train Station, next to Wal-Mart. The teens then walked to nearby Depot Park.
As they walked from the train station area to the park, they shouted obscenities at the officers.
Eyewitnesses said that Bethke hit or punched Tobin in the chest and also kicked another officer who arrived on the scene to help.
At the height of the disturbance, Rutland Police Chief James Baker, along with several other police officers, arrived on the scene during the melee.
Eyewitnesses claimed that Bethke smashed the rear window of a police squad car with her foot as she was being restrained and placed inside the cruiser.
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