A criminal defendant tried to take a cop’s gun in court, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday. They say the actions of Scott Patrick Lemmon, 27, are being reviewed for possible new charges.
He was in court Wednesday, on trial for multiple charges, including burglary, coercion, and menacing, deputies said. Authorities explained that the officer in question was sitting at the counsel table to testify.
You can see it all on video released by the sheriff’s office. There’s Lemmon, sitting on the far right, and wearing a blue shirt. He’s leaning back, with his chair slightly away from the table. The officer sits second from the left.
Lemmon looks at the cop’s direction. Seconds pass before he stands up, and lunges, apparently reaching for the officer’s waist.
No dice. You will note that everyone at the table sits on wheeled chairs. The cop scootsed away, and pulled out his gun. Meanwhile, a male deputy grabbed Lemmon from behind, and brought him to the ground. A female deputy and the cop helped secure the defendant’s hands behind his back.
One of the deputies sustained “minor scrapes and abrasions,” said the sheriff’s office. Lemmon ended up getting convicted, by the way. He remains at Lincoln County Jail as of Friday.
Deputies say Lemmon was unshackled during the incident, and that federal case law put up a hurdle if they wanted to put on restraints prior to the incident.
“In order to follow statutory requirements, Lincoln County established new practices which now requires all individuals to have a hearing by a Judge [sic] prior to restraints being placed on the individual for court purposes,” the statement said.
[Image via Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office]
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