Milford Man Arrested Again For Waving Axe, Making Threats

MILFORD, MA — A Milford man was arrested Wednesday for waving an axe and threatening his Walnut Street neighbors. William Bennett, 49, was arrested and charged last October for rampaging through the downtown area carrying a hatchet.

On Wednesday, police responded to a home along Walnut Street after neighbors reported a man waving an axe and threatening them. Officers arrived to find Bennett swinging the axe into his porch, according to the police log. Bennett had also set a small fire outside the home.

Milford police had to force entry into the home to arrest Bennett. He was taken to a local hospital for possibly involuntary commitment. Police are also seeking to charge Bennett with disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, six counts of threatening to commit a crime, two counts of witness intimidation and resisting arrest.

On Oct. 26 last year, Bennett, bleeding from a cut on his face, ran down Franklin Street and into the yard of a home where a party was being held, police said. He broke through a wooden fence with a hatchet and threatened to kill people before running away, police said.

He was charged with disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, assault with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of property, police said.