North Haverhill
The incident prompted Lebanon police to deploy its Tactical and Containment Team and the department’s 1980s military-style bulletproof armored vehicle.
James E. Wallace was arraigned on Thursday in Grafton Superior Court in North Haverhill on a felony-level criminal threatening with a deadly weapon charge.
He was held on $10,000 bail.
Just before 1 p.m. on Wednesday, police received reports that a man had threatened several people with a “large knife” near Granite and West streets, according to a Lebanon police news release.
The situation began when Wallace allegedly yelled at the driver of a car that turned around in his driveway, prompting Daniel Maville to tell Wallace to calm down, according to a police affidavit.
Wallace then allegedly grabbed a 12-inch knife from his vehicle and charged at Maville, telling him to get off of his property and that he “was going to carve him,” according to the affidavit.
Police said Maville was never on Wallace’s property; Wallace went back into his West Street residence, and Maville called police, the affidavit said.
“Officers attempted to make contact with Wallace but he refused to come to the door,” according to the release.
Because Wallace wouldn’t comply with commands, Lebanon police decided to deploy the department’s Tactical and Containment Team, a group of officers with special training much like that of a SWAT team. Some of them arrived with the armored vehicle.
Lebanon Police Chief Richard Mello said the armored vehicle is used during “high-risk” situations, such as a hostage-type situation, or when someone is threatening harm against another person with a weapon.
“You have no idea what he has in his house and he already (allegedly) displayed violent tendencies,” Mello said of Wednesday’s incident and the decision to respond with the armored vehicle.
For example, Mello said, if a suspect under similar circumstances began firing a gun, officers would be safer inside or behind the armored vehicle than in their cruisers.
The armored car also enables officers to drive up closer to a home and use a form of non-lethal force, such as a device that shoots pepper balls, to end a high-risk situation, he said.
“It is armored for protection,” Mello said. “It is a game-changer when you talk about saving officers’ lives and civilians.”
In Wallace’s case, an officer used the armored vehicle’s public address system and “successfully encouraged” Wallace to come out of the house peacefully, the release said.
After his arrest, Wallace told police Maville had provoked him, according to the affidavit.
He said Maville started yelling at him and threatened to fight him. In response, Wallace said, he retrieved his knife and brandished it at Maville, according to the affidavit.
The Lebanon Police Department is the only department in the Upper Valley with an armored vehicle. Vermont and New Hampshire state police have them in their fleets.
Mello disagreed with critics who say the use of such vehicles are part of the militarization of domestic police agencies.
“We have seen officers across the country being shot,” he said. “These are things that save lives.”
Lebanon police obtained the vehicle about 10 years ago as a donation from another department that was upgrading its equipment, Mello recalled.
He said the department has used the vehicle roughly four times over the past six or eight months.
The date of Wallace’s next court hearing wasn’t immediately available.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.