Monitor Editor
STARKE— A 34-year-old Brooker man was sentenced to 18 months in prison for fighting with a deputy.
Andrew Jackson Knight pleaded no contest to the April 22, 2021, offenses of battery on a law enforcement officer, battery on a person aged 65 years or older and resisting an officer with violence. An additional charge of disturbing the peace was dropped at a Nov. 24 pretrial conference during which Knight pleaded to the other charges.
According to court papers Bradford sheriff’s Sgt. Tanner R. Foreman responded to a suspicious person call around 4:50 a.m. to a Melvin Street address in Brooker.
There he found Knight sitting beside a water spigot at a residence, claiming that lights were bothering him, and that acid was getting to him.
“Andrew kept getting into the water hose, pouring water on himself, even though he appeared to be fine,” wrote Tanner in a sworn complaint. “I asked him what he was on, and Andrew said he used meth yesterday and hadn’t slept since.”
Foreman added that Knight started to scream, waking residents in the area. A 68-year-old neighbor heard the commotion and drove across the street to find out what was going on.
“I told Andrew to wait by my truck for EMS so he could be checked out and get help,” Foreman wrote. “I then went to get into my agency vehicle to unlock the door for him to sit in, and that is when Andrew fled on foot screaming ‘help me’ and running towards Charlotte Avenue.”
Foreman wrote that he followed the defendant in his truck, observing Knight banging on doors and trying to enter vehicles while screaming for help.
The officer caught up with Knight at a Charlotte Avenue address and attempted to detain him. He deployed his taser on the defendant “which yielded negative compliance.”
“I then started trying to control Andrew when he began to fight me for approximately 20 minutes before backup arrived because our agency-issued radios were not working,” Foreman wrote. “Neighbors heard what was going on and attempted to help me get control of him.”
Foreman wrote that once EMS arrived, medics gave the defendant a shot to calm him down. The sergeant wrote that during the fight, the defendant kicked him in the face with his boot several times and bit him on the arm. The 68-year-old witness also received minor injuries.
