Majority of the charges against man from police brawl dismissed
A judge today ordered a Chattanooga man who was recently arrested for fighting with a police officer to pay $1,200 in restitution.
Five percent of that amount must go to Jon Watkins, the Chattanooga officer involved in the June altercation with 21-year-old William Floyd Alexander.
Alexander was arrested after he and Watkins got into an altercation around 2:15 a.m. on June 16 outside Regan’s Place, a downtown nightclub at 24 Station St.
Court documents say on-scene officers stepped in when a tussle broke out between several people and club bouncers. As that was happening, Floyd stepped in front of an officer and pushed him, his arrest affidavit states.
Then, when the officer tried to grab him, Floyd resisted and eventually punched the officer in the head, breaking his prescription glasses, the affidavit states. Some of their encounter was captured on a video that gathered nearly 55,000 views on social media.
At the time, Georgia and Tennessee defense attorney McCracken Poston said Alexander was encouraged to fight by “uniformed individuals.” Poston could not immediately be reached for comment today.
Officers arrested Alexander that night and charged him with resisting arrest, assault, public intoxication, vandalism and mischief and disorderly conduct. Prosecutors dismissed everything but the vandalism charge. For that offense, Alexander received diversion, an alternative sentence reserved for people with no prior records.
If he follows the court’s orders and stays out of trouble, Alexander will get that charge dismissed and possibly expunged at a later date.