Officers swarm Kenmount Road parking lot

Man tussles with police, woman flees custody

More than seven police cars rushed to a Kenmount Road parking lot late Thursday afternoon, where a woman escaped custody and a man reportedly tried to intervene and assaulted an officer.

According to RNC media relations officer Const. Geoff Higdon, an officer arrived at a business in a plaza to arrest a female who had been wanted by police, after receiving word she was there. However, a man tried to intervene and ended up in a struggle on the ground with the officer in the parking lot. As they struggled, the woman ran away.

A ball cap and sunglasses believed to belong to the man could be seen on the ground.

Several other police cars arrived minutes later and officers subdued the man and took him into custody.

He has been charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and obstructing justice.

The owner of a nearby business told The Telegram that she looked out the window and saw the officer struggling on the ground with the man.

“I had a clear view and it looked like he was having a hard time,” the woman, who didn’t want to be identified, said of the officer. “He needed help.”

She immediately called the police. Officers arrived minutes later, “but, of course, it seems like forever when you’re waiting and watching something like this going on,” she said.

She said police said they already knew what was going on, but told her to stay on the line and tell them what she could see.

Another person who was watching shot video of some of the incident on her phone. She said she saw a dark-haired woman run away.

“She took off that way,” she said, pointing west.

Higdon said he couldn’t comment on why police were looking for the woman.

The Telegram will provide more information as it becomes available.