TALLMANSVILLE – A Tallmansville man was transported to St. Joseph’s Hospital for treatment following a physical altercation with two local law enforcement officers Friday.
Thomas Clayton Summers, 29, was charged with one count of assault on an officer, a misdemeanor, and two counts of obstructing an officer, also a misdemeanor.
According to the complaint filed in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office by investigating officer Cpl. V.J. Pyles with the Buckhannon detachment of the West Virginia State Police, the incident occurred on Hickory Flat Road.
Pyles had responded to a motor vehicle accident on Hickory Flat, his report states. When he arrived on scene, he was advised “that a male was walking away from the scene [of the accident].”
Pyles identified Summers as the man walking away and made contact with him, the report says.
The report notes that Summers was “visibly intoxicated and reserved” and goes on to say that he “was not very cooperative.”
Deputy Tyler Chidester was assisting Pyles. As the state trooper headed back to the scene of the motor vehicle accident, Chidester told him that Summers was “becoming combative” and attempting to walk away.
According to the report, the two officers and Summers became involved in a physical altercation.
“[I] observed [Summers] and Deputy Chidester in a physical altercation,” Pyles wrote. “[I] then became involved in the altercation and told the defendant (Summers) several times to stop resisting.”
Pyles’ account says Summers kept trying to fight the two officers and allegedly “grabbed [Pyles] by the gun belt” near his firearm.
Pyles and Chidester placed Summers into restraints and he was transported to WVU Medicine St. Joseph’s Hospital for treatment. He was then taken to Tygart Valley Regional Jail.
Magistrate Mike Coffman set bond at $50,000 — $10,000 for each count of obstructing an officer and $30,000 for the assault on an officer charge.
The penalty for a conviction on each count of obstructing is imprisonment for up to one year and/or a fine ranging from $50 to $500. If found guilty of assault on an officer, Summers would face jail time from 24 hours up to six months and/or a fine of up to $200.
In other, unrelated crime news, Khori Wayne Simmons, 23, of Buckhannon was charged with one misdemeanor count of fleeing from an officer, no vehicle, and one felony count of attempt to commit grand larceny.
According to the complaint written by investigating officer Sgt. Marshall Powers with the Upshur County Sheriff’s Department, Powers had been on routine patrol driving east on Island Avenue when he turned in to a parking lot to check on a 2000 Jeep Cherokee that had been parked there.
Then, Powers reportedly saw two male subjects running away from the Jeep.
“I immediately noticed the dome light come on inside the Jeep and witnessed two male subjects running away from the Jeep,” Powers wrote in the complaint.
Powers’ report says the Jeep’s owner, Edwin Todd Carpenter, had parked it there in an effort to sell it.
A chase ensued with Powers and several assisting officers attempting to track the footprints of the two people in the snow.
Powers wound up at 9 ½ Cleveland Ave., where he allegedly located Christian Tyler Jarrell, according to the complaint. Powers noticed a second pair of “extremely wet” shoes at the residence, and the residents there allegedly told the office that the shoes belonged to Simmons.
Powers returned to the parking lot and saw that the passenger-side rear window had been removed from the Jeep, the steering column had been busted off and the wires to the ignition been cut, the complaint states.
Powers later interviewed Simmons and Jarrell.
“They advised they continued to flee from [me] after being told to stop because they didn’t want to go to jail,” Powers wrote, stating the estimated value of the Jeep was $3,500.
The penalty for a conviction of fleeing from an officer is a fine of $50 to $500 and/or confinement in jail for not more than one year. If found guilty of attempt to commit grand larceny is confinement in the state penitentiary for one to three years or imprisonment for up to one year and a fine of up to $500.
