By DENISE A. RAYMO
Staff Writer
CONSTABLE — The trial began Wednesday in Albany for an accused pot smuggler who was shot by federal officers in 2008 as he fled the woods off Route 122 on an ATV.
Timothy J. Fleury, 27, of 52 Bird Road, Constable faces charges of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, stemming from a May 2008 incident, and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, stemming from September 2007, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Fleury was shot in the lower right torso by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers who were responding to a tripped sensor at about 10 p.m. May 5, 2008, in the woods off Route 122 in the Town of Constable.
Agents Dennis Rascoe and Daniel Taylor went to the Jamison border crossing near Trout River and tried to stop two all-terrain vehicles.
One ATV was towing a large trailer loaded with hockey-equipment-sized duffel bags typically used by drug smugglers to tote large quantities of marijuana.
The ATVs fled into the woods, and the officers chased them first by vehicle, then on foot. They said they could hear the ATVs stop and restart during the pursuit but could not catch them.
A half-hour later, one of the ATVs emerged from the woods near the two agents. As they walked toward it and ordered the driver off the vehicle, the driver allegedly gunned the engine and drove at the officers, forcing them to dive out of harm's way.
The agents said they fired 12 rounds at the fleeing machine and struck Fleury once.
The ATV again sped off, but a short time later, Franklin County 911 Dispatch Center received a call from a Route 122 homeowner seeking help for a man with a gunshot wound.
Fleury was taken to Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, then airlifted to Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, where he was treated for two weeks and released.
The two officers were placed on administrative leave and later cleared of any wrongdoing. They then returned to work at the Burke substation.
The duffel bags recovered from the woods contained about 370 pounds of marijuana, agents said.
E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com
