WESTFIELD – A city man was held without right to bail after he was arraigned Friday on a variety of charges which include three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
The roots of the incident go deeply into the relationships of the involved parties but the immediate confrontation probably began on Tuesday evening when a Fowler Avenue resident called police to complain that he had been assaulted by a neighbor after he discovered him in a compromising position with the complainant’s wife.
At that time, since the alleged assault was not witnessed by police or any other cooperating witness, police brought no charges but advised the complainant to seek a criminal complaint at Westfield District Court.
On Thursday evening police were called to the address twice, the first time by the complainant’s neighbor who told the dispatcher that his neighbor had sent him a threatening text message.
Officer Richard Mazza reports that when he arrived, the man immediately began an abusive rant and ordered him to leave.
Hours later, the original caller again summoned police when he reported that he was menaced with a knife when he confronted his neighbor about the man’s relationship with his wife, who is the landlord of the building where all the parties reside.
When the police arrived, they observed the suspect, Scott A. Deschaine, 40, of 11 Fowler Avenue, in a car with the caller’s wife.
Although the officers ordered him to stop, Deschaine drove off forcing Officer Michael Gibbons to jump out of his path to avoid being struck by the car.
Another officer, Sean Smith, soon spotted the car on North Elm Street and reports he gave chase, with lights and siren activated, but Deschaine did not stop, traveling about a mile before he pulled in the parking lot of a Southampton Road motel.
In the parking lot, Deschaine’s vehicle was quickly surrounded by officers who ordered him to shut off the engine and show his hands but he did not do so.
Instead, Smith reports, “Scott began revving the engine with Officer Mazza directly behind the vehicle.”
Faced with the man locked inside the vehicle and refusing to get out, an officer broke a window of the car with a night stick and reached inside to shut down the engine.
Deschaine refused to exit the vehicle and officers employed electronic control devices but, even after a Taser was used, Deschaine did not cooperate and was manually pulled from the vehicle and subdued, according to Smith’s report.
A knife was found in his back pocket which fit the description of the one his neighbor had alleged to have been used to menace him.
Deschaine was arrested and charged with three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, failure to stop for police, intimidation of a witness, resisting arrest and carrying a dangerous weapon.
He was arraigned Friday in Westfield District Court before Judge Philip A. Contant who ordered that he be held without right to bail pending a dangerousness hearing which was scheduled on Nov. 22.
