Family facing escape and battery charges after brawl with police

BOYNTON BEACH — A family of three is facing charges that include assaulting police officers and trying to escape from custody.

It started as a domestic dispute involving Robert Michael Craige Sr., 45, and ex-wife Tanya Lavon Pruitt, 40, at about 3 a.m. Thursday, according to the arrest reports.

A neighbor’s doorbell video camera recorded Craige Sr. pushing Pruitt while the two were yelling outside their home in the 1900 block of Palmland Drive in Boynton Beach.

When police arrived Craige Sr. resisted arrest by pulling his arms away and flailing on the ground to avoid being handcuffed. When Craige Sr. was tased and cuffed, Pruitt came outside and started yelling, screaming, punching and kicking the officers, the report stated.

As police tried to handcuff Pruitt, her 19-year-old son Robert Matthew Craige Jr. came out of their home and sprayed the two officers in the face with a chemical aerosol. Then, he and Pruitt barricaded themselves in their home and refused to come out, investigators said.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Delray Beach police and a SWAT team surrounded the home. Pruitt and Craige Jr. eventually surrendered at about 5:10 a.m., police said.

During the commotion, the handcuffed Craige Sr. ran off and police mounted a search without any luck. Detectives staked out his home until he walked up, still in handcuffs, about 1:40 p.m., the report stated.

Craige Sr. and Pruitt remain in the Palm Beach County Jail charged with battery, resisting arrest and escape on bonds totaling $10,000 each. Craige Jr. is jailed on similar charges with bonds totaling $51,000, records show.