OFF THE BEAT: Not wise to lay hands on lawman

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Police officers responded to reports of a fight late May 15 at a home in DeLand. 

The husband there said only a verbal disagreement took place between him and his wife. 

Wife’s daughter said the problem was that Husband scolded her (the daughter) all day and that that made Wife angry. Daughter confirmed that there was a quarrel between Husband and Wife, but no fight. 

Maybe everything would have been fine, and the lawmen might have left without arresting anybody. However, Wife made the brilliant decision to escalate.

While one of the police officers was talking to Husband in the kitchen, Wife exited the laundry room and walked through the kitchen, saying she was going to bed. The officer asked Wife her name, and she responded, “I’m not telling you my name, f— it.” 

Husband told Wife “to stay in the room and talk to law enforcement.” Wife shouted at Husband and “start[ed] advancing toward [Husband] while continuing to yell.” 

The policeman stretched out his arm to block Wife. She “walked into [the law officer’s] hand and he responded by pulling his hand away.” Wife kept shouting at Husband, and the lawman “repeatedly tried telling her to calm down.” 

The officer raised his voice, and Wife turned toward him and repeatedly screamed a profanity. (Always a good way to deal with tense situations.) 

Lawman “placed his hands in front of him to create distance from [Wife] so she would not walk closer toward him.” 

Wife took a step forward, and her “left shoulder made contact with [the officer’s] outstretched right hand. [She] used her left arm striking at [the officer’s] hands in an attempt to move them away.” (Because the police are trained to respond well to being struck.) 

Eventually the two officers had had enough, and they tried to get Wife into handcuffs. Surprisingly, she resisted. They took her outside, still attempting to talk with her, but she resisted that too.

Wife was charged with felony battery on a law-enforcement officer and misdemeanor resisting an officer without violence.

The lawmen managed to get her to jail without her doing any harm to their police cruiser.

— By Keith Allen, based on local police-agency reports. If you have information about a crime, call Crime Stoppers, 1-888-277-TIPS. You could be eligible for a reward.

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