Updated at 5:59 p.m.
RUTLAND — A 20-year-old Salisbury man pleaded not guilty on Monday to felony charges in the death of a Rutland City police officer.
Tate Rheaume was charged with grossly negligent operation of a motor vehicle and attempting to elude, both with death resulting, in the crash that killed Jessica Ebbighausen, of Ira. His truck struck her cruiser head-on Friday afternoon as he allegedly tried to flee a burglary.
Ebbighausen started working for the department less than two months ago as a part-time, Level 2 certified officer and was scheduled to begin training next month to get her full certification.
Rheaume was also injured in the crash that took place around 3 p.m. Friday on Woodstock Avenue, aka Route 4, in Rutland, according to police. Sean Milligan, Rheaume’s attorney, said in court Monday that his client suffered broken ribs and “significant” spinal injuries.
Law enforcement officers with black ribbons over their badges filled the courtroom for the Monday afternoon hearing, many from the Rutland City Police Department, including Brian Kilcullen, the department’s chief.
Rheaume entered his not guilty pleas via video from the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington during a hearing held in Rutland County Superior criminal court.
Judge Cortland Corsones set bail for Rheaume at $100,000 cash and, if posted, ordered him to abide by a 24-hour curfew at his sister’s residence in Haverhill, New Hampshire.
“These are very serious allegations against the defendant,” the judge said from the bench in explaining his bail decision. “It is alleged that as a result of his offense, his actions resulted directly in the death of a young police officer.”
Rutland County State’s Attorney Ian Sullivan, the prosecutor, had argued for bail to be set at $500,000, calling Rheaume an “extreme” flight risk. Milligan objected to the imposition of cash bail, saying that his client had “essentially” spent his entire life in Vermont and was not a flight risk. Milligan added his client had no previous criminal record.
“The defendant admitted he knew the police were looking for him,” Sullivan said in court Monday in seeking the higher bail. “He offered a handful of explanations about why he did not stop — that he had ambitions of joining the Marine Corps and that an arrest would likely impact his ability to join.”
During the time police were pursuing him Friday, Sullivan said, Rheaume later told an investigator he was thinking about “everything and nothing.”
“Ultimately, he decided to pass a car that from his perspective was moving slowly,” Sullivan said, adding that Rheaume crossed a double-yellow line to pass that vehicle.
“He cared more about getting away from police than the lives of everyone else,” Sullivan said of Rheaume.
Sullivan said he also had concerns about Rheaume’s mental state, telling the judge Rheaume suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and was known to not take his medication as prescribed.
Court filings detail events prior to crash
An affidavit filed in support of the charges against Rheaume and written by Sgt. Thomas Howard of the Vermont State Police became public Monday, revealing new details into the events leading to the fatal crash that took place Friday afternoon.
A Rutland City woman who had been in an “on-again off-again” relationship with Rheaume since 2019 spoke to police about what happened earlier that day. She and Rheaume have two children together. He began contacting her around 10 a.m. by phone wanting to see them and take them to lunch, the affidavit stated.
However, Howard wrote, the woman wasn’t comfortable leaving the children alone with Rheaume so she told him to go to her grandmother’s residence where he could see the children with other adults present.
During the early afternoon Friday, according to the affidavit, the woman became concerned about Rheaume showing up at her residence, so she drove to meet him at her grandmother’s home in Rutland Town.
After she got there, Howard wrote in the affidavit. Rheaume arrived and blocked the driveway with his truck. He then ran inside and demanded to see the children so he could take them to lunch, which she refused to allow him to do.
Baker said Rutland Town police were contacted and came to the grandmother’s residence, after which Rheaume left, according to the affidavit. Officers told the woman that if she wanted to obtain a restraining order against Rheaume she would need to go to the courthouse in Rutland City.
The woman went to the courthouse along with her new boyfriend, Howard wrote. While at the courthouse, the affidavit stated, he received an alert on his phone from newly installed surveillance cameras inside their residence on Washington Street.
The cameras, according to the affidavit, showed Rheaume entering the property and going inside the residence.
A police officer then responded to the residence and made contact with Rheaume, the affidavit stated. The officer asked the woman if she wanted to press charges, after which Rheaume fled the scene in his truck.
A short while later, after hearing of the crash on Woodstock Avenue, Howard wrote, the woman told investigators she went to the scene and saw Rheaume’s truck upside down.
Rheaume, who was later interviewed by police, told an investigator that he had gone to the parking lot of Stewart’s convenience store on Woodstock Avenue when he saw Rutland City police cruisers and he knew they may be looking for him, Howard wrote in the affidavit.
“Mr. Rheaume said that he didn’t want to get in trouble so when the police tried to stop him, he didn’t stop,” the affidavit stated.
Asked by an investigator how the crash took place, Howard wrote, Rheaume reported that as he was driving he approached a slower moving vehicle in front of him and he wanted to pass it.
“Mr. Rheaume told me that he didn’t realize that there was a Rutland City police cruiser approaching in the oncoming lane,” the affidavit stated.
“He said that he didn’t see it until just before the collision and was unable to avoid it,” the charging document stated. “Notably, his story regarding how this collision occurred changed several times during our conversation.”
The investigator who interviewed Rheaume “opined” that Rheaume was under the influence of drugs at the time of the crash, according to the affidavit. The document indicated that “the complete analysis associated with this opinion will be submitted at a later date.”
According to Vermont State Police, as Rheaume was heading west on Woodstock Avenue, two police cruisers were traveling east toward him, including one driven by Ebbighausen. She was accompanied by a supervising officer, Richard Caravaggio, in the passenger seat.
Rheaume, according to state police, crossed the center line into the eastbound lanes and collided with Ebbighausen’s cruiser his the truck struck the second eastbound cruiser.
Ebbighausen was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sullivan, the prosecutor, said after Rheaume’s arraignment Monday that the investigation into what took place Friday remains ongoing.
If convicted of the two felony charges currently pending against him, Rheaume faces up to 30 years in prison.
