Police use stun gun to subdue 70-year-old man

CHESTERVILLE – Katherine Matthews is questioning whether police overreacted when they used a stun gun to subdue her 70-year-old husband and arrest him on a charge of terrorizing.

“He didn’t terrorize anyone,” Matthews said. “My husband is the victim here.”

Norman Parent, a retired school principal from Massachusetts, was in bed Friday when Matthews went in to discuss his anger about a personal situation involving an out-of-state family member who owed him money, she told the Sun Journal of Lewiston on Tuesday.

After the couple’s conversation, Matthews went for a ride while Parent – who had removed his hearing aids – went to sleep.

“I was concerned over my husband, that he was so upset and he was stressed,” she said.

Using her cell phone, Matthews called a friend. She hoped the friend would come to the house to talk to her husband, she said. Instead, the friend called the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, Matthews said.

A deputy phoned the house and left a message on the couple’s answering machine for her husband. The deputy and a state trooper then went to the house where Parent, who had quadruple bypass surgery, was sleeping, she said.

Parent was arrested after the deputy used a Taser to subdue him after he allegedly resisted arrest and ended up in a scuffle with the trooper. Parent was released on $2,000 cash bail after being charged with terrorizing and refusing to submit to arrest.

Franklin County Sheriff’s Cpl. Steve Charles and Chief Deputy Ray Meldrum stood by the arrest, calling it a case of domestic terrorism.

Charles’ report said Parent was “agitated, confrontational and very aggressive and told them he wasn’t going anywhere with them.”

Charles said Parent answered the door when police arrived, contradicting Matthews’ claim that her husband was asleep at the time.

As the officers tried to restrain Parent, he got into a scuffle with Trooper Randall Keaten and Charles “tased” him and took him into custody, Meldrum said.