Police responded to a call about a domestic assault and battery in progress at a Commercial Street residence around noon Sunday. According to a press release from the Adams Police Department, upon arrival, police found a woman who had escaped from the house. She advised the officers that there was an armed man inside the home with her two children.

 

"She stated that he was armed with a firearm and threatened to shoot responding officers," the release stated.

 

Officers led the woman to safety and called the state police for backup, as well as the North Adams Police Department and the Berkshire County Special Response Team.

 

While backup was en route, Adams Police made contact with the man in the house via telephone. He agreed to surrender. He exited the home and was arrested without incident.

 

"The firearm was located and secured, and the children were located and were also deemed to be safe," according to the release.

 

The man was transported to the Adams Police Department. He was ordered held on $10,000 cash bail and will await arraignment at Northern Berkshire District Court to face multiple charges from this incident.

SEARSBURG, Vt. -- A 19-year-old Guilford woman was killed late Sunday morning when she lost control of her sport utility vehicle on Route 9. 

 

Pooja Meyer was driving her 1999 Honda Civic east near Sleepy Hollow Road when, according to state police, she passed another vehicle, lost control and veered into the westbound lane and into the path of a tractor-trailer. Her car collided with the 2020 Western Star operated by Richard Regan, 53, of Keene, N.H.

 

State police from the Shaftsbury barracks responded to the scene at about 11:42 a.m. Among the responding units was Stamford Volunteer Fire Department, which responded to mutual aid and a request for the Jaws of Life. 

 

Meyer, a recently graduated licensed practical nurse, was pronounced dead at the scene. Regan was taken to Readsboro School for a life flight transfer to Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.   

 

Police say both drivers were wearing their seat belts and that the road was clear but wet. The Honda was totaled and the truck incurred front end damage. The roadway was closed for almost seven hours. 

 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Berkshire district attorney intends to seek a murder charge indictment against a North Adams man who has been held by authorities since the brutal beating of his wife five months ago. 

 

Charli Cook, 41, died at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield  on Sunday, Dec. 1. She'd been hospitalized there since July 11 after what authorities say was a brutal attack by her husband, Michael Cook Sr., at their Chase Avenue home. 

 

Michael Cook, then 42 years old, was arraigned in Northern Berkshire District Court on single counts of assault with intent to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, and assault and battery on a family or household member.

 

With his wife's death on Sunday, District Attorney Andrea Harrington said she will seek a murder charge against Cook. 

 

"I send my condolences to Charli Cook's family and friends," she said in a statement. "The investigators, prosecutors, and victim advocates who have been working on this case were heartbroken by her passing. We are determined to obtain justice for Charli."

 

Michael Cook has been held without bail at  the Berkshire County House of Correction after being determined a danger to the community. 

 

When police responded to the call on July 11, they found Charli Cook unresponsive and bleeding from a large wound on the back of her head. She was taken to Baystate for surgery and had been placed in a coma. She suffered a skull fracture. 

 

The police report filed with initial charges say Cook admitted to the crime on the scene saying,"I just snapped for a minute."

 

According to court records, Cook has a long history of domestic violence and sexual assault, including a conviction for child rape. In 2015, he was charged with assault and battery after allegedly assaulting his wife. That case was dismissed. In 2016, his wife had filed for a restraining order against him, claiming he assaulted her multiple times and mentally abused her.