A beekeeper has been jailed for six months after she set swarms of honeybees on sheriff's deputies attempting to carry out an eviction at a friend's house in 2022, according to the New York Times.

The beekeeper, Rebecca Woods, insisted she only released her trailerload of hives to allow the bees to enjoy the "lovely, flowering landscape" near the home of an elderly friend and cancer patient.

But a district court in Springfield, Massachusetts, heard that Woods, now 59, admitted under questioning that she was trying to save him from eviction by freeing the bees in the presence of the deputies who had shown up to serve papers.

Several officers were stung on their heads and faces, and one required hospital treatment.

Additionally, thousands of Woods' bees died during the encounter, many of them crushed when several hives toppled as she wrestled with deputies trying to arrest her, and others because female honeybees die after delivering their sting.

"This was unlike anything our team has ever experienced," Nick Cocchi, the Hampden County sheriff, said of the incident, which was captured on video released by his office and posted to YouTube by MassLive.

In the footage, a deputy is heard shouting, "Hey, hey, hey, she has a truck full of bees," to which another deputy responds, understandably, "What?"

One deputy is seen frantically waving his arms, trying to shoo the insects away.

Woods, who put on her beekeeper suit during the incident, had driven up to the property with the hives stacked on a trailer pulled by her SUV and proceeded to lift the lid off one of the stacks. During an ensuing tussle, she was forced to the ground by two deputies and arrested as a large swarm of bees flew around the property's front yard.

Woods was told during the encounter that some deputies were allergic to bees. In response, she said: "Oh, you're allergic? Good."

Mary Saldarelli, Woods' lawyer, said that her client's words were "a reaction to having your face put down in the pavement and being shoved there and kept there."

Her reason for going to the property, Saldarelli added, was that Woods had experienced several evictions herself and wanted to protect people from predatory lenders who charged extortionate loan rates.

Her friend was a man in his 80s who was undergoing cancer treatment, she said, and had gone to a local library to see about filing a motion to halt the eviction, while Woods drove the bees to his house.

"It really was just a sincere hope that he would not suffer the humiliation and devastation of going through an eviction, of losing your home," Saldarelli said.

According to the Times, a jury acquitted Woods of seven felonies but convicted her of four misdemeanor counts of assault and battery and two counts of reckless assault.

Woods, she said, maintained her innocence and has filed an appeal. "She is not acquiescing in any way, shape, or form," Saldarelli said.

Her friend, meanwhile, lost his home in Longmeadow, about five miles south of Springfield. Woods "ultimately failed in her attempt to stop the eviction, which is a matter determined by the courts, not the sheriff's office," Cocchi said in a statement.

While some on social media commented to indicate they appreciated Woods' intentions to help an elderly neighbor facing cancer treatment to avoid eviction, others said the act was violent and especially dangerous if true that one or more people nearby were allergic. Meanwhile, Cocchi sought to emphasize that the police have to do their jobs to enforce legal matters and that his department was not taking a callous approach. 

"We don't just show up to enforce an order. We try to help people through difficult situations," Cocchi said. "That commitment doesn't change, even in the face of something like this."

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