The Ulster Town Board last month approved security upgrades totaling $5,000 following an incident involving a belligerent defendant.
Town police chief Kyle Berardi detailed the fracas during a November 19 meeting of the town board.
“The defendant was remanded to the custody of the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office based on a previous complaint he was here for,” Berardi said. “While doing so, he became disruptive in the courtroom. He was escorted out by a deputy from the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, as well as two court officers that are employed by the Town of Ulster.”
The scrum continued in the hallway, where Berardi said the unnamed defendant “became non-compliant, belligerent, screaming and yelling,” at which point the deputy sheriff tased him, and he was restrained and handcuffed.”
In its entirety, the incident lasted around ten minutes, and if not for the presence of police officers from the town and county, it might have been much worse.
“In the process of (the defendant) being restrained and handcuffed, the supervisor’s secretary (Peggy King) had called down to my desk, alerted me about what was going on, and then myself and one of my members had come up and assisted,” Berardi said. “Prior to me getting here, he was already restrained in handcuffs and on the floor in control.”
Town police were already in the process of researching the cost of upgrading and expanding the use of “panic buttons” throughout town hall and the court clerk’s office, along with those on the judge’s bench and in chambers. But what was previously in place wasn’t operating optimally.
“Just recently we learned the remote panic buttons were non-functioning,” Berardi said. “Not just because of the battery was dead, because they were just inoperable.”
The new wired system will enable staff on the first floor to seamlessly notify police on the lower level of town hall that they are needed in the municipal offices or courtroom.
Council members are hoping the system can be in place by the end of 2024.
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