FERRISBURGH, Vt. -
A man is dead after trying to intervene in a fight at a Friday night party on Sand Hill Road in Ferrisburgh, Vermont.
Conrad Bell, 40, of Vergennes, was at a bon fire enjoying a night out with some friends. A man who police say had been drinking drove to the property looking for trouble and left after leaving Bell with life threatening injuries that eventually killed him.
Now friends are remembering the kind of man Bell was.
Robert Clark lives across the road from where Bell wound up in a fight that took his life. He's worked with Bell before on carpentry projects and says he was the kind of person always willing to lend a helping hand.
"That's the kind of guy he was he thought if he could make a bad situation not so bad he would step in and try," Clark said.
That quality appears to be what put him in danger. Only ashes and remnants of a good time gone bad mark where the tragedy began.
Police say Joseph Bolduc, 25, of Burlington, drove to the party and was looking for someone who wasn't there. Police say that is when he started a fight.
Bell tried to step in to help his friend at the party, but Bolduc started assaulting him, police said.
Neighbors say they could hear someone screaming that bell was "breathing again," but Bolduc wasn't sticking around to see if Bell was alright.
Police say Bolduc drove back up the road he came in on intoxicated before crashing his vehicle.
"We found his vehicle and identified who he was based on the registration," state police Detective Lieutenant Tom Oliver said.
Police say they tracked Bolduc to a home on Sand Road where he fled again and assaulted a trooper before being arrested Saturday morning. By that time bell had already been taken to Fletcher Allen Medical Center where he later died from his injuries.
Clark is stuck with only good memories of a man who was stepping in to fix a problem. Like he had done many times when Clark needed help for his carpentry business.
"He'd just make the day go by," Clark said.
"You know a bad day he could make it a good day."
Clark says Bell would bring one of his two daughters over to his house garden sometimes to pick cucumbers. That she would get a smile of happiness on her face when she found a good one. It's Bell's smile that Clark thinks he'll remember most. The smile of a loving father and dependable friend.
Bolduc is facing numerous charges, including DLS-Criminal, DUI #3 Refusal, Leaving the Scene of an Accident, Negligent Operation, Resisting Arrest, and Attempting to Disarm a LE Officer. Other charges will be forthcoming. He is being held at Marble Valley Correctional Facility in Rutland.
