Photo for illustration.
A swarm of bees as a weapon against eviction. It sounds like a bizarre movie plot, but American beekeeper Rebecca Woods really did it. Her action does not earn her any applause, but it does earn her a six-month prison sentence.
In 2022, the 59-year-old beekeeper from Massachusetts could not bear to see a friend, a man in his eighties undergoing cancer treatment, being evicted from his home. According to her lawyer, she acted out of “sincere hope that he would not have to experience the humiliation and devastation of an eviction.”
Truck full of beehives
When the man was not at home – he had gone to a local library to inquire about options to stop the eviction – Woods went to his home. There she found several officers who came to hand over a summons. That’s when she decided to open up the many beehives in her truck.
Woods said she only released the bees so they could enjoy the “beautiful, blooming landscape” around her boyfriend’s house. However, the district court in Springfield, Massachusetts, heard that she admitted to releasing the bees in an attempt to prevent the eviction.
Cops and bees injured
The liberation of the bees led to great chaos. According to The New York Times several officers were stabbed in the head and face; one of them even had to go to the hospital. Many bees also did not survive. They were crushed when beehives fell during a struggle between Woods and the officers, or died because female honey bees simply die after one sting. Woods herself was unharmed thanks to her beekeeper suit.
Footage on YouTube shows how, while some officers thrash around wildly, other officers tackle her to the ground and arrest her. During the confrontation, she was told that some officers were allergic to bees, to which she responded: “Oh, you are allergic? Great!”
According to The New York Times a jury acquitted her of seven crimes, but found her guilty of four counts of minor assault and two counts of reckless assault. Woods will now serve six months in prison. She maintains her innocence and has filed an appeal. “She is not giving in in any way,” said her lawyer.
Her boyfriend lost his home in Longmeadow in the meantime. “Eviction is a matter for the judge to decide, not the sheriff’s office,” Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi said.
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