By Joe Johnson
An Athens man was recently indicted for trying to stab a police officer who was attempting to remove him from a car he had broken into.
Anthony Deshun Williams, 40, of Sycamore Drive, who also allegedly assaulted a witness, was charged with aggravated assault, aggravated assault on a police officer, felony obstruction of a law enforcement officer, and two counts of entering an automobile with the intent to commit a felony, according to the indictment that was filed Tuesday in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court.
The indictment stems from Williams’ arrest the night of Jan. 15 when officers responded to the Lanier Gardens senior living community on Riverhill Drive to investigate a report of someone breaking into vehicles in the parking lot.
According to a county police report, officers met with the man who placed the 911 call, who told them that a man, later identified as Williams, had broken into the toolbox in his truck’s bed and took a hammer that he used to try to break the truck’s windows.
The man said that when he walked towards Williams, the suspect began running around the parking lot, striking other vehicles with the hammer before Williams approached him while swinging the hammer, according to the police report.
The man said he fell backward to the ground when he pushed Williams in an attempt to keep him away, and that while on the ground he kicked at Williams as the suspect swung the hammer over his body, according to the report.
“(The victim) advised he was scared for his life during the incident,” in which the hammer struck him in his shin, the report noted.
Officers located Williams, who locked himself in a car he had broken into and while they tried to remove him from the vehicle, Williams tried to stab one of the officers with a screwdriver, at which time other officers tased the suspect and forced him to the ground, according to the report.
Williams reportedly continued to fight and tried to bite officers as they attempted to place him in handcuffs, according to the report, and once in custody, Williams was taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries he had previously incurred and to be evaluated from being electrically shocked by the tasers.
The man who Williams attacked was also taken to the hospital for treatment of his injured shin.
Since he was arrested, Williams has been incarcerated without bail at the county jail. He is scheduled to be arraigned April 26 on the charges in the indictment.