BRISTOL — Just after 8 p.m. on Tuesday, the Bristol and Vergennes police departments assisted the Vermont State Police with a heroin bust on Mountain Street.
A woman was taken into custody after authorities executed a search warrant and allegedly found heroin on her person, in her car and in her home. VSP did not provide details of the incident or identify the woman.
State investigator Kevin Lane deferred all questions about the incident to U.S. Attorney Tristram Coffin, who as of mid-afternoon on Wednesday had yet to return several phone calls from the Independent.
In association with, but not necessarily directly connected to, this arrest, the Bristol Police Department also arrested Richard Lattrell, 45, of New Haven for aggravated assault on a police officer, attempting to elude police and providing false information to the police.
According to Bristol Police Chief Kevin Gibbs, as the search warrant on the unidentified woman’s home was just being executed, authorities found the woman in her car on Lincoln Road by Bartlett’s Falls. At the time, another car was present. Authorities thought the operator might be meeting with or related to the woman.
Bristol police officers reported to the scene and found two women in the car. As the police obtained their license information, another car pulled up.
Gibbs said that when the officer looked at the car, the operator, who they identified as Lattrell, immediately shut off its lights.
When one of the officers approached the car, Lattrell started the vehicle and drove right at the officer, who police said barely avoided the car and was almost hit by another car coming up the road.
Police said Lattrell’s vehicle took off up the hill and a chase ensued. Weaving up into Lincoln, Lattrell drove onto Elder Hill Road, where he went off the road, said Gibbs.
The police arrested Lattrell, and a clerk at the Chittenden County Superior Court indicated that he is to be arraigned on Wednesday afternoon.
The police said they were unsure if there is a connection between Lattrell and the woman arrested for possession of heroin.
Reporter Andrew Stein is at [email protected].