VERGENNES — Vergennes police detective Jason Ouellette persuaded a potentially suicidal man to leave his Ferrisburgh home and surrender to Vermont State Police on Oct. 26, according to Vergennes Police Chief George Merkel.
Ouellette and another member of the Vergennes department went on that Friday to a South Middlebrook Road home at about 12:30 p.m. to help several VSP troopers with a man who was inside the home threatening to either hang or shoot himself. Merkel said Ouellette knew the individual and was able to convince him to leave the home peacefully.
In other incidents between Oct. 22 and 28, Vergennes police:
•  On Oct. 23 spoke to city middle school students about substance abuse and prevention.
•  On Oct. 23 heard from a Sunset Drive resident that a credit card had been stolen and used to make purchases in Chittenden County, a case that remains under investigation.
•  On Oct. 23 calmed a man who became unruly at the John Graham Shelter when told he was not eligible for free food.
•  On Oct. 23 spoke to the driver of a black car that had been seen speeding on Hillside Drive and told him to slow down.
•  On Oct. 24 cited a city juvenile for taking a relative’s car without permission, an action taken after police found the car stuck in a Panton farm field. Police also cited him for driving without a license.
•  On Oct. 24 cited Kimber Mills, 24, of Charlotte for possession of marijuana following a West Main Street traffic stop.
•  On Oct. 24 took a report of a minor hit-and-run accident in the Shaw’s Supermarket parking lot.
•  On Oct. 24 helped a motorist get into a locked car at the John Graham Shelter.
•  On Oct. 24 heard from both a mother and daughter on Monkton Road that the other had violated relief-from-abuse orders, and eventually referred both apparent violations to the Addison County State’s Attorney’s office.
•  On Oct. 24 referred a report of a Ferrisburgh domestic assault to VSP.
•  On Oct. 25 worked with a Vergennes Union High School student on behavioral and academic issues.
•  On Oct. 25 heard from a mother that her 16-year-old son had boarded a bus for Burlington without permission, and removed him from the bus and brought him home.
•  On Oct. 25 heard from a Monkton Road landlord that a tenant had hacked up a driveway with a pickax. Police looked into it and heard from another tenant who had witnessed the vandalism, but determined that it was a civil issue between the landlord and the tenant. They provided the landlord with the information from the witness.
•  On Oct. 25 heard from a Main Street resident that her car door had been keyed, a car door handle had been ripped off, and the contents of an ashtray had been dumped on her lawn. Police are still looking into this incident.
•  On Oct. 26 accepted a wooden box filled with costume jewelry that was found on Hollow Road in Ferrisburgh; police asked other local agencies if they were looking for the box in connection with any cases, and Bristol police said they were.
•  On Oct. 26 confiscated a knife and a box-cutter found in a room search at the John Graham Shelter conducted by shelter employees.
•  On Oct. 26 cited James Leclerc, 26, of Vergennes for driving an unregistered car and driving a car with plates not assigned to it, an action taken after stopping him for speeding on West Main Street.
•  On Oct. 26 cited Barbara Battani, 45, of Shefford, Quebec, for possession of marijuana; she was a passenger in a car that was stopped for speeding on West Main Street, and police smelled the drug. She was lodged at the Chittenden County Correctional Center.
•  On Oct. 26 cited Brendan Pierce, 23, of Ferrisburgh for driving under the influence of alcohol, third offense. Police allege that they were driving southbound on North Main Street when Pierce’s vehicle, heading the other direction, forced them off the road. They said Pierce’s blood-alcohol content tested at 0.182 percent, and they lodged him at the Chittenden County Correctional Center. The legal BAC for driving is 0.08 percent.
•  On Oct. 27 looked into an eyewitness account of a man in a vehicle harassing a female pedestrian who was an ex-girlfriend; the incident remains under investigation.
•  On Oct. 27 received a tip that a car was being driven on a flat tire, and ended up arresting two Brooklyn, N.Y., men, both on drug charges and one on an outstanding warrant on a gun charge. Police stopped a car being driven by Kevin Johnson, 22, of Brooklyn, with passenger Jamauri Parks, also 22, of Brooklyn. Both were charged with possession of marijuana and providing false information to police. Vergennes police said the two gave phony names in an effort to prevent police from learning about the New York warrant on Parks for criminal possession of a firearm in the second degree. Johnson was also cited for driving without a license, and both were lodged at the Chittenden County Correctional Center.
•  On Oct. 27 checked a report of gunfire near Otter Creek, but found no one.
•  On Oct. 27 went to check the welfare of a Main Street resident, but found no one at the address.
•  On Oct. 27 helped Northlands Job Corps security calm and shut down a dance at which students had become disorderly.
•  On Oct. 28 secured an unlocked business on New Haven Road.
•  On Oct. 28 cited Nathanael Pegues, 42, of Bridport for driving with a criminally suspended license following a Monkton Road traffic stop.
•  On Oct. 28 cited a 17-year-old Northlands student from Oneida, N.Y., for retail theft for allegedly taking two MP3 players from Kinney Drug Store.