January may have been a particularly cold month, but Wilbraham police stayed warm by keeping busy -- including making arrests involving assault suspects who allegedly used bats and beer bottles as weapons.
WILBRAHAM -- January may have been a particularly cold month, but Wilbraham police stayed warm by keeping busy -- including making arrests involving suspects who allegedly used bats and beer bottles as weapons in separate assaults.
Shortly after 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 18, officers Sean Casella and Daniel Ryan responded to a home on Glendale Road for a report of a "disturbance in progress," police said. The suspect, later identified as 38-year-old Evan Paul Spooner of 36 State St., Palmer, threatened harm to the victim, then fled the scene, police said.
At about 6:51 p.m., Spooner returned to the residence and "struck the victim on the leg with the swing of a baseball bat, causing noticeable redness and swelling," police said, adding that Spooner knows the person he allegedly assaulted.
Spooner then "strangled the victim for a short time" before once again fleeing the area, police said.
He was later apprehended by Palmer police and handed over to Wilbraham police to face charges of strangulation and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. The outcome of his arraignment was not immediately known.
Just before 3 a.m. on Jan. 20, Sgt. Shawn Baldwin and Officer James Gagner responded to the area of Wilbraham & Monson Academy on Main Street for a report of "two men fighting," police said.
The officers eventually located and arrested 26-year-old Yuly Flores of 5 Volpe Drive, Apt. #25, Chicopee, who was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon after allegedly using a beer bottle as a weapon.
Flores, who has also been arrested by Chicopee police in the past, was additionally charged with assault and battery "causing serious bodily injury," Wilbraham police said.
Arraignment information in the case wasn't immediately available.
Shortly after 12:30 a.m. on Jan. 20, Officer James Gagner responded to the parking lot of The Gaudreau Group, an insurance company at 2377 Boston Road, for a report of a two-car crash.
After conducting an investigation, Gagner charged 54-year-old Sandra L. Nichols of 17 Alden St., Palmer, with negligent operation of a vehicle and driving under the influence of liquor.
The crash caused property damage, according to police, who did not specify the extent of the damage.
Just after 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 18, a Wilbraham officer stopped motorist Peter E. Sares, a 77-year-old resident from town, near the intersection of Soule Road and Ward Drive.
Sares, who lives at 849 Main St., has a suspended license and should not have been driving, according to police, who also issued him citations for speeding in an unregistered and uninsured vehicle.