MONROE, CT — Police officers responding to the report of a suspicious person on Knollwood Street Sunday night found a man kicking a door, while appearing to try to force his way into the former residence of famed ghost hunters Ed and Lorraine Warren.
Then he emerged from behind the house, walking in the driveway toward two officers who asked him what he was doing there. He replied, “I am St. Michael the Archangel. I have a sword and will strike you down,” according to the report.
He reportedly screamed Biblical verses while walking toward the officers, even after one pointed a taser at him.
When the officer told the man to get on the ground, he reportedly refused, screaming, “tase me! I am protected by God!”
Officers noticed a pocket knife hanging from his pants pocket. Police said he took it, did not unfold it, and started waving it around before throwing it into the woods.
Then he allegedly grabbed a pen from his pocket and held it like a knife, moving it around in a stabbing motion. When officers warned he would be tased, he reportedly threw the pen into woods, near the knife.
Police said he spoke “gibberish”, went into a calm state, then became agitated.
Officers tried to de-escalate the situation by talking about the Bible with him, but the more they talked, the more it appeared the man was going through some psychotic episode or was on some type of narcotics, police said.
The man kept trying to get back toward the house, so officers tried to flank him, getting between him and the building, because it was unknown if he had a sword there.
One officer holstered his taser so he could try to physically prevent him from advancing toward the house. Police said the man charged the officer and struck him in the face with a closed fist.
The other officer applied the taser, making the man stagger and fall onto the grass area. Police said the man fought with the officers on the ground as they attempted to handcuff him.
The officers called for backup, before reinforcements helped to take the man into custody. Police said he kept screaming that he was possessed by the devil.
The man, identified as Michael Rae Middleton Jr., 40, of 5484 North Port Washington Road in Glendale, Wis., was charged with criminal attempt to commit third-degree burglary, third-degree criminal trespass, interfering with an officer, two counts of resisting arrest, two counts of assault on a police officer and second-degree breach of peace.
He was held on $200,000 bond and taken to court on Golden Hill Street in Bridgeport the next morning.
Monroe Volunteer Emergency Medical Service personnel arrived and removed the taser prongs from the man’s back. Police said he had no injuries. Two officers had minor facial wounds from being punched and one officer went to the hospital with an injured wrist.
Near the door of the house, officers found the Book of Genesis and a bottle of holy water.
The home of the late Ed and Lorraine Warren used to be the site of the Warren’s Occult Museum, with haunting exhibits like the infamous Annabelle doll, but the museum was closed for a zoning violation long ago, because the use is not allowed in residential neighborhoods.
Despite “No Trespassing” signs and security cameras on the property, neighbors have often complained about trespassers.
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