Clear to partly cloudy. Low 44F. Winds light and variable..

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 44F. Winds light and variable.

Ryan Avery, 45, is seen in a booking photo taken Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022.

Ryan Avery, 45, is seen in a booking photo taken Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022.

BRATTLEBORO — A man accused of trying to slash a construction worker with a shard from a broken glass bottle in a wooded area on Interstate 91 is being held without bail until a weight of the evidence hearing can be scheduled.

Attorney Rick Ammons of the Windham County Public Defender’s Office entered a plea of not guilty of simple assault against a law enforcement officer for Ryan Avery, 45, Thursday in Windham Superior Court, Criminal Division. Judge Michael Kainen said the misdemeanor charge was elevated to a felony based on a prior offense.

Deputy State’s Attorney Steven Brown said the state is reviewing exculpatory evidence before filing aggravated assault charges against Avery. Earlier in the day, the Vermont State Police announced Avery would be arraigned for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Brown told Vermont News & Media there is probable cause for the more serious charge, however, the state does not believe the current evidence will lead to a conviction. His office is working with State Police investigators to ascertain Avery’s whereabouts on Wednesday morning and they are seeking any relevant information from the public.

“We’re trying to finish this investigation before the weight of the evidence hearing so we have an idea as to whether Mr. Avery was responsible for this crime,” Brown said in an interview. “If he wasn’t responsible, we want to make sure his name is cleared and we apprehend the person who committed the crime. The State Police are diligently working on this case and I have a lot of faith that they will uncover the truth.”

According to an affidavit, the Bellows Falls Police Department and mental health workers provided State Police with three names — including Avery’s — that fit a description of the suspect. The other two men were described as nonviolent.

Avery was arrested on Wednesday after an investigation by the State Police. He had been located and taken into custody by members of the Brattleboro Police Department Wednesday evening, according to State Police.

The incident occurred in Rockingham at about 9:30 a.m. on Interstate 91 southbound near mile marker 35 when an individual struck and slashed a member of a construction crew working on a project on the interstate. The victim is an employee of Ameritech Slope Constructors and had gone into the woods near the construction site when he was attacked from behind, according to a police report.

According to the affidavit, the suspect placed the victim in a choke hold then broke a glass Starbucks bottle and used a shard to try to slash the victim’s face and neck. The victim was able to escape from the assailant, who fled into the woods. The victim was taken to the hospital, treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released.

The victim initially pointed to another person as the suspect out of a lineup of photographs, according to the affidavit. When the order was re-arranged randomly, he picked out Avery.

Citing a long list of convictions in numerous states for disorderly conduct and simple assault among other charges, Brown requested Avery be held without bail.

Ammons said it is not uncommon for people who are “indigent and on the streets” with a mental health issue to commit simple assault. He described his client being “astonished” about the allegations of the aggravated assault and said he “wholeheartedly refuted” them.

Avery has “a place to go,” Ammons said. “He does live outside. He does stand outside of Hannaford with a sign looking for relief like so many people do.”

Ammons said he will be evaluating all the evidence once it becomes available. He told the court that Avery has been working with a service provider on finding housing.

Kainen said Avery had been in jail over the weekend and appeared in court on Monday, and Avery has told the court that he would work on finding housing and getting sober. With previous convictions for resisting arrest, the judge worried about Avery being a flight risk.

According to an affidavit for the simple assault, Avery was being held at the Vermont State Police Westminster Barracks when it was determined that Judge Katherine Hayes would allow for Avery to be held without bail at Southern State Correctional Facility for the alleged aggravated assault. Police said Avery became unruly.

”Avery abruptly stood up, removing the blanket and made threatening comments to the Troopers along the lines of if they were to touch him, he would break their nose,” the affidavit states. “While he was making these comments, his voice was raised, he had an angry expression on his face as well as stern and focused stare with his eyes, his fists appeared clenched and by his sides.”

Avery charged forward at Trooper Nathan Greco then fought and struggled with troopers as they handcuffed him, according to the affidavit. Greco said he was in fear of serious bodily injury given Avery’s history and the earlier incident on the highway.

Avery’s “behavior has become erratic, unpredictable and poses a substantial risk to public safety,” Brown told the court. He noted how Avery recently pleaded guilty to simple assault on a police officer in an incident in which he attempted to bite the officer.

Ammons said the new simple assault charge appears to be the state’s attempt “to elevate what looks like, at most, a possible tussle which didn’t actually result in any injury, I think, to the four officers who were standing initially 5 to 8 feet apart from Mr. Avery while he’d been lying on the floor at the police station waiting to find out what the heck was going on when he claimed he hadn’t done anything that they said he’s done.”

”This is a man who is diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, but is coherent and is able to communicate effectively and doesn’t appear to be entertaining suicidal or homicidal ideation,” Ammons said. “And I’m not asking for an evaluation at least not at this time. I’m asking that he be released with reasonable conditions.”

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