Newspaper Page Text
On The R ecord
The
Commerce News
January 9,2008 • Page 7 A
Officer Uses Pepper Spray
To Subdue Groping Suspect
Wreck Sends One To Hospital
A two-vehicle accident at the intersection of on Brookwood at North Broad and his 2003
South Broad Street and Brookwood Avenue F-150 pickup truck was struck by a 2001
Friday resulted in one of the drivers being taken Chevrolet Tahoe driven by Thomas James
to an Athens hospital for treatment. According Stephens of Commerce. Stephens was trans-
to the Commerce Police Department, James ported for treatment.
Hunter Wood of Commerce ran the stop sign
Man Survives Being Shot 7
Times; Alleged Assailant Held
Two attempts to grab the
Commerce police officer’s gun
were bad enough, but when a
suspect went for the officer’s pri
vates during a scuffle, that was
too much.
After getting a dose of pepper
spray in the face, Paul Clinton
Kelley, 31, of 521 State Street,
Commerce was subdued and
charged with battery under the
Family Violence Act, criminal
trespass and felony obstruction
of an officer.
According to the incident
report, the officer had responded
to a 911 hang-up call at 521 State
Street and was advised that the
dispatcher could hear a woman
screaming.
The officer said he found a white
female out in the street, hold
ing scissors and bleeding from
her nose and mouth. The officer
said he drew his service weapon
and ordered her to put the scis
sors down. The woman complied,
pointed to a man standing in the
door of the house and screamed,
“He did it.’’
At that point, the officer
approached the man, later identi
fied as Kelley, and ordered him to
the ground; the report said Kelley
refused and attempted to enter
the house.
The officer grabbed Kelley’s
wrist, at which time they began
scuffling, as Kelley was “very com
bative and aggressive.’’ The officer
said he ordered him to desist,
to no avail. The officer pushed
Kelley, whose head slammed into
a wall, leaving a large hole in the
wall. The two went to the ground,
and, according to the officer,
Kelley twice reached for the offi-
The Commerce Police
Department responded to three
incidents at Crossing Place
Apartments, Steve Reynolds
Industrial Parkway, during the
past week.
The most serious was a domes
tic dispute in which the victim,
a 21-year-old black female, told
police that her common law hus
band had called to tell her he
was coming to their residence
to “teach her a lesson for the
lies she had been telling.’’ The
woman told police she had no
idea what he was talking about.
The 26-year-old black male
entered the apartment, broke
the glass in the door of the oven,
grabbed the victim by her arm
and dragged her to a closet, the
woman said, where he “verbally
abused her and threatened to
kill her.’’ In the process, he dam
aged the closet wall and bath
room door with her fists. At one
point, he grabbed a metal table
leg and threatened her with it.
Three minor children allegedly
witnessed the event.
Other Incidents
Other incidents requiring
police presence during the past
week include:
cer’s service pistol as the officer
was trying to deploy his pepper
spray. Both times, the officer said,
he knocked Kelley down.
But when Kelley allegedly
reached for the officer’s groin, the
officer was able to spray Kelley in
the face, after which he held Kelley
down until a backup arrived.
The report did not state the rea
son for the domestic dispute, but
indicated that two women claimed
Kelley hit them in the mouth and
bit them in the nose.
Other Arrests
Others arrested by city police
during the past week include:
•Brian Allen Rousey, 20, 101
Timber Lake Circle, Royston,
charged with driving under the
influence (DUI), following too
closely, underage consumption of
alcohol and misdemeanor pos
session of marijuana. According
to the incident report, Rousey
had been involved in an accident.
The report said Rousey told the
officer that he, Rousey, was the
designated driver for a passen
ger, Terrence Lee Garnto Jr., 27,
248 Tanglewood Street, Royston.
Rousey was charged with DUI
after he allegedly flunked a field
sobriety test. The drug charge
came after a search of the vehicle
turned up two plastic bags of mari
juana and items related to the use
of marijuana, according to the
report. The search also turned up
a bottle of beer. Garnto was also
charged with misdemeanor pos
session of marijuana.
•Aeryal Lashae Martin, 21, 64
Pine Street, Danielsville, speed
ing and driving with a suspended
license.
•Dennis Dewayne Schoolcraft,
•theft by taking at Crossing
Place Apartments in which a
23-year-old white male said
someone entered the tool box
in the back of his truck and
stole a tool bag, a tool box, an
electric saw, two batteries and
a charger.
• entering an auto at Crossing
Place Apartments. A 27-year-old
black male said someone broke
out the back windshield of his
vehicle.
•a burglary at a Pine Street
residence where a 54-year-old
white male told police that
someone attempted to enter his
residence by kicking in the patio
door, during which they broke
a window by the side of the
door. The thief or thieves also
removed screens from windows.
The man reported that a small
ceramic heater was missing
from his bathroom, but was not
sure how the person or persons
entered the house.
•possible simple battery and
cruelty to children reported by
a 31-year-old black female who
told police that her 12-year-old
son came home from his grand
mother’s house with bruises to
the right side of his face and
40,5822 Stephens Road, Oakwood,
picked up in Hall County on an
unspecified Commerce warrant.
• Mary Ann Allen, 34,133 Baugh
Street, Commerce, DUI-drugs, fol
lowing too closely and endanger
ing the life of a child while DUI.
The charges were filed following
a traffic accident when the offi
cer observed that the suspect did
not know what happened, had
bloodshot eyes, slurred speech
and was slow to react. The report
said Allen indicated she had taken
Lortab for pain related to a kid
ney stone.
•Karen Hammond Parr, 43, 322
Cabin Creek Road, Commerce,
driving with a suspended license
and no insurance.
•Darrel Joe Wilder, 39, 420 Old
Colony Place, Commerce, aggra
vated assault and battery under the
Family Violence Act. The charges
followed an argument between
Wilder and his girlfriend over a
“strange’’ number that appeared
on her cell phone. The woman
told police that Wilder wanted
to know whose number it was,
and she was unable to tell him,
he took her into the bathroom,
filled a sink with water and tried
to drown her. She said she pulled
the stopper and while he was try
ing to replace it ran out the back
door and fell down the steps. The
report said Wilder denied the sink
story, claiming the woman had
hit him in the face, after which
he grabbed her arm, she fled and
fell down the steps. The officer,
observing water on the bathroom
floor, the sink stopper on the floor
and other supporting evidence,
appeared to conclude that the vic
tim’s account was accurate.
legs. The report indicated some
uncertainty as to whether the
injuries were the result of abuse
or a seizure the boy had while at
his grandmother’s house.
• criminal damage to property
at a South Broad Street address
where a 32-year-old white male
told police that someone appar
ently backed into his vehicle
while he was at work. The man
seemed to think the other vehi
cle was a garbage truck.
•a report of a lost cell phone,
possibly at Fred’s or Ingles on
South Elm Street.
•a burglary at an Orchard
Circle residence where a white
female said she came home to
find a back window pushed in
and her TV, DVD player and lap
top computer missing. The offi
cer noted that the thief entered
by pushing a window air condi
tioner unit into the residence.
• shoplifting at CVS Pharmacy,
North Elm Street, where a clerk
told police that two black males
entered the store and one of
them removed two six-packs of
Dove Soap as the other stood
lookout. The two were last seen
running behind Hardee’s, across
the street.
A 20-year-old Commerce man
remains in stable but critical
condition at an Athens hospital
after being shot seven times on
the afternoon of Monday, Dec.
31.
Police have charged Derrick
Howard, 21, of 25 Bennett
Street with aggravated assault
in the shooting of Brandon
Mason, 20, of a Pine Avenue
address. Mason is being held
in the Jackson County Jail with
out bond and is subject to fur
ther charges, said Chad Knight,
head of the Commerce Police
Department’s criminal investi
gation division.
“He will probably be charged
with possession of a firearm
by a convicted felon and pos
session of a firearm during the
commission of a crime,’’ Knight
said.
Details of the shooting remain
sketchy.
Knight said officers were sum
moned to the emergency room
of BJC Medical Center after
Mason walked in. He was shot
seven to eight times in the chest,
stomach, arm and leg, accord
ing to Knight.
Knight said Mason identified
Howard as the shooter, and
other witnesses reported seeing
Howard shoot Mason repeated
ly, after which Mason fell back
ward off the porch. Howard has
not admitted to the shooting,
Knight noted, and the cause of
the incident remains unknown,
although Knight said there is
some talk of a feud between
the two.
Mason was treated at BJC
Hospital, then transferred to
Athens Regional Medical Center.
Howard turned himself in to the
Jackson County Sheriff’s Office
that night.
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