The entire time we lived in rural Maine, we watched the cops, authorities, and the media dehumanize Maine citizens. They turned traumatized people, those with disabilities, those who are poor, and those who were sick and/or addicted into criminals to justify the budgets to keep their fat government jobs funded in an area where there are no jobs. And like most media, Maine media printed that Jessica Byrne was accused, charged and indicted for “threatening authorities with a knife” but you cannot find any information about whether she was found guilty or not.
We’re still answering for a newspaper article that dehumanized us with lies… and the Sun Journal refuses to update it with the fact the charges were dropped. They were so reckless, they printed our address not giving a fuck Jennifer was a crime victim who never got justice. We will get this defamatory newspaper article taken down. The same cop who shot Jessica Byrne also falsely charged Jennifer, the Finance Committee member who voted to cut their budget, with a felony alcohol charge in 2010 after she called emergency services for Lee who was severely emotionally dysregulated and suicidal; Lee purchased the alcohol in question because the P.D. believed the word of an abuser he divorced and arrested him for domestic violence on her word alone; Lee faced false allegations of domestic violence against Jennifer via an ex-wife in Tennessee who weaponized the local P.D. with lies and used it to terminate custody of his children who lived with us. All these bad actors used the trauma and stress, that they created, against us to make us look like we were crazy when in fact we were so overwhelmed with the institutional abuse, we couldn’t cope.
Jennifer was hospitalized at the Bedford, Massachusetts VA for suicidal ideation; Lee was hospitalized multiple times and checked out on all of us for years after losing his kids.
The Police Department completely annihilated our life with narratives they made up or ran with while we were struggling with both mental and physical health issues from a lack of healthcare while serving our country for over fifteen years. We were in the middle of the medical retirement process after trauma, stop loss, high ops tempo, and chronic lead poisoning. The stress from the lies and abuse of power overwhelmed both of us and negatively impacted our mental and physical health. We no longer felt safe living in this Stephen King town. The fact this P.D. charged Jessica Byrne with a felony crime when in fact she was in mental health crisis and was most likely dissociated and fearful of an “aggressive, intimidating” officer with a gun in her face is the real crime. Stacy Carter did what he had to do to protect an escalating abuser on his payroll.
March 18, 2014:
Portland Press Herald Reported “Reportedly Suicidal Woman Shot by Rumford Cop” (2014)
Friends of Maine woman left confused by police shooting (Portland Press Herald, May 20, 2014)
April 26, 2014:
1.
PARIS, Maine — A young woman wounded in a police shooting in Rumford in March has been charged with threatening officers with a knife shortly before being shot.
Jessica Byrne, 25, was arrested by Maine State Police in Rockland on Thursday and booked at the Oxford County Jail on Friday morning. She appeared in South Paris District Court Friday afternoon and was charged with Class C criminal threatening.
During her appearance, Maurice Porter, assigned as attorney of the day, said Byrne is still recovering from the shooting and has been staying in the Rockland area, where she is receiving care from family members.
Her extensive medical needs cannot be met in jail, Porter noted.
Source: Bangor Daily News
2.
Jail officials say Byrne was booked at the Oxford County Jail Friday after being indicted for criminal threatening, a Class C felony.
Officials say bail was set at $1000 cash or a supervised release. Byrne was released on a Maine Pretrial Services contract in lieu of cash bail.
Maine Pretrial Services is a nonprofit organization that requires suspects to check in every day, visit an officer once a week and abide by all bail conditions or suffer consequences up to and including incarceration.
Byrne was shot by a Rumford Police officer March 18 after she allegedly pursued the officer with an open pocket knife.
According to the Lewiston Sun Journal, a Maine State Police arrest affidavit says Byrne had been suicidal and was on the phone with police and her counselor saying she had ingested a large amount of prescription drugs.
The Sun Journal says the affidavit describes Rumford Police Officers Tracey Higley and Brad Gallant found Byrne huddled in an alley talking on the phone to her councilor. The affidavit says Higley and Gallant attempt to take Byrne into custody failed, resulting in Byrne becoming agitated and pulling a closed pocket knife.
State Police then say the officers tried to taser Byrne twice with no effect. Byrne then opened the pocket knife and “became focused” on Higley and started to pursue him. Officer Higley retreated and eventually shot Byrne twice that “ceased Byrne’s advance.”
Source: News Center of Maine
3.
Byrne was shot by a Rumford police officer on March 18 after she allegedly threatened the officer with a pocketknife. Witnesses at the scene thought she may have been suicidal at the time.
There is no word on when Byrne will appear again in court.
Source: WMTW Channel 8
Related Links:
Woman shot by police accused of threatening authorities with a knife
Woman shot by Rumford police formally charged
Woman shot by Rumford police indicted
The Portland Press Herald Reported the Series “Deadly Force: Police and the Mentally Ill” (2012)
Portland Press Herald Reported “Reportedly Suicidal Woman Shot by Rumford Cop” (2014)
Portland Press Herald Reported “Friends of Maine Woman Left Confused by Police Shooting” (2014)
Maine Police Shootings of Individuals with Mental Illness: Recent Incidents and Concerns
Red Flags: Disciplinary History for “Aggressive, Intimidating” Maine Police Officer Who Targeted Disabled Veterans in 2010; 4 Years Later Involved in the Shooting of Suicidal Woman (2005)
Finance Committee Member Receives First Menacing Anonymous Letter From Bad Actors in Rumford, Maine (2010)
Citizen Complaint to Attorney General: Overview of Police Officer’s Disturbing History Prior to Connection in Officer Involved Shooting of A Suicidal Woman With Mental Illness
Maine Newspaper & Police Department Leaders Assist Documented Abusive Police Officer in Dehumanization of Disabled Veterans and Kids During a Mental Health Crisis
“Veteran Advocates” Use Defamatory Newspaper Article & the Cops Who Created the Narrative to Bounce Medically Retired Disabled Veterans Out of Washington DC
The Most Dangerous Moments of Our Life: Targeted by an Abusive Cop with Impunity Who Shot A Suicidal Woman During a Mental Health Crisis Four Years Later (2024)
Surviving Injustice: Disabled Veterans Battling to Overcome a Defamatory Article in a Rural Maine Newspaper (2024)
Jennifer and Lee 