Proctor, Vt. (ap)
Sgt. Andrew Cross of the Rutland County Sheriff’s Office said his office received a call about “multiple irate parents” at the estate just before 2 p.m. Saturday. Vermont state police also were called in.
The Rutland Herald reported that 34-year-old Michael Cuthbertson, of Newbury, Vt., turned his anger on police and began making threats when police tried to intervene.
Cross said he fled when told he was under arrest and police chased him and used pepper spray to subdue him. He was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was due to appear in Rutland District Court today.
Cuthbertson did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Event organizer Jeremy Griffin, co-owner of Party Outfitters in Rutland, said between 1,200 and 1,500 people turned out for the event.
“We did have some people that were upset. We had to do some refunds,” Griffin added.
His wife and Party Outfitters co-owner Danielle Desrochers said the trouble started when some people broke through the ropes before the scheduled start of the egg hunt and began scooping up all the eggs.
“I think when you get a lot of people at an Easter egg hunt, the kids, they get excited,” she said. “It’s hard to see the eggs on the ground and to be told to wait. And once a few start, they all start.”
A similar incident happened in Orange, Ct. Saturday’s event at the visitor center of candy company Pez drew hundreds of people, some of whom ignored the rules.
“Everyone just rushed the field and took everything,” Pez General Manager Shawn Peterson told a local TV station.
Event organizers placed more than 9,000 eggs on three fields with the intention of having staggered start times for each age group. But Pez officials say parents didn’t wait. Peterson said the crowd was “kind of like locusts.”
Pez in a statement apologized for “an unfortunate situation,” adding that the actions of a few turned the event into “a mess.”
“We sincerely tried our best to create a fun, free activity for everyone to enjoy,” the statement said.