Trending Topics

NH woman charged in EMT attack arraigned

Adrienne Valdez was having problems with her medication, her attorney said

By Nancy Bean Foster
The Union Leader

NASHUA, N.H. — A woman accused of attacking three emergency medical technicians who responded to her call for help in Mont Vernon has been having problems with her medication, her attorney said, but those problems have been fixed.

Adrienne Valdez, 28, who is living in Wilton with her mother, has been arrested three times since June 23.

Valdez, who just completed her second year at New York Law School according to her attorney, Jean-Claude Sakellarios, was arrested on Memorial Day in Mont Vernon.

She was charged with a felony count of second-degree assault and two misdemeanor simple assault charges for allegedly attacking Amherst Ambulance Service EMTs Lynn Briggs, Sandra Power and Carylyn McEntee.

According to Ambulance Director Brian Gleason, all three EMTs were injured in the alleged attack, two badly enough to miss work for several weeks.

On June 11, Valdez was arrested by Wilton police after an alleged altercation with her mother, Kimberly Dean-Valdez, at her home at 184 Curtis Farm Road. Though no one was injured in the incident, Valdez was arrested on a Class A misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief (vandalism) and was charged with breach of bail for allegedly committing another crime while out on bail for the Mont Vernon arrest.

On June 23, Valdez allegedly pulled an emergency-box fire alarm in Nashua, and when police arrived, she allegedly assaulted an officer and resisted arrest, then later reportedly assaulted another officer by spitting in her face.

Valdez was in Nashua District Court yesterday for arraignment on the four Class A misdemeanor charges connected with the June 23 arrest. She pleaded not guilty to all charges and is scheduled to be tried at 9 a.m. Sept. 9.

Valdez also is expected in Milford District Court July 27 to answer the Mont Vernon and Wilton charges.

Valdez refused to comment outside the courtroom yesterday, but her attorney said his client has been struggling with medication.

“We believe that a lot of what has been happening has been caused by medication,” Sakellarios said.

The attorney wouldn’t say what the medication was needed for, but explained “something went wrong with the medication,” and that since the correct medication has been prescribed, Valdez is now “100 percent balanced.

“Hopefully she can put this all behind her and go back to law school in New York, where she has a 3.7 average,” Sakellarios said.

Valdez, who between arrests was hospitalized for a time, is back living with her mother in Wilton.

Copyright 2010 Union Leader Corp.