An Eatonton man running late for work was arrested when he took his frustrations out on a Greene County deputy in the Publix parking lot.
According to reports from Greene County Sheriff’s Office, Lt. Keith Powell was on State Hwy. 44 the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 4, when traffic was backed up. Powell noticed a vehicle swerve onto Merchant Street in Lake Oconee Village. Following behind the Nissan Rogue, Powell saw the driver go through the three stop signs along Village Main and Market streets without stopping. As the SUV passed the Subway restaurant, Powell turned on his blue lights and siren to initiate a traffic stop, but the driver reportedly continued driving until he pulled into a parking space at the end of the row near Hwy. 44.
The driver, later identified as Stanley P. Chase Jones, got out of his vehicle, but Lt. Powell ordered him to sit back in the SUV. Instead, the driver yelled that he was “late for (expletive) work,” and proceeded to walk toward the store where he worked.
Powell stretched out his left arm to block Jones from walking, and Jones began cussing loudly and swung his own arm and pushed Powell’s left shoulder, according to the report. Jones then stopped and leaned against his vehicle and told the deputy to “do whatever you need to do so I can get to work.”
Powell radioed for assistance from another deputy because Jones had hit him, which is when Deputy M. Cowdry arrived. Jones, meanwhile, continued to complain about the backed-up traffic that made him late for work. Jones then called a family member to come pick up his vehicle; he told them he was being taken to jail for running stop signs.
“(I) informed Mr. Jones he was not going to jail for running stop signs, he was going for swinging his arm and making contact with (me),” Powell wrote in his report. “Mr. Jones began repeatedly saying ‘shut the (expletive) up.’ And Deputy Cowdry told him to get off the phone, that he was under arrest.”
Jones refused to be handcuffed and resisted arrest. Deputy Cowdry had to take Jones down to the ground, but Jones still would not comply. It reportedly took both officers to use a vascular neck restraint technique to get him in handcuffs.
Stanley P. Chase Jones, 48, of Grove Street, Eatonton, was taken to Greene County Jail on charges of willful obstruction of law enforcement officers and simple battery against a police officer.