BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Tanisha Barnwell, 21, of Lake Butler, was arrested by Union deputies on June 25 for battery on a law-enforcement officer and making death threats to a law enforcement officer.
According to an arrest report, the defendant’s mother called 911, telling a dispatcher Barnwell was “having a mental episode, punching holes in the wall.” The caller also warned the dispatcher that the defendant had a collection of knives in her room.
When deputies arrived at the home, the mother told Deputy James Jankowski that Barnwell had been off her medications and had been stabbing holes in the walls as well as punching them.
“At this time,” wrote Deputy D. Sumner in the report, “(the mother) got Tanisha to open the door to her bedroom. Once Tanisha opened the door, she advised she punched the holes in the wall. Tanisha was speaking as if she was having a mental episode.”
The defendant then began to retreat into the bedroom and attempted to shut the door. Sumner reported that Jankowski placed his foot in the doorway to keep Barnwell from closing the door and retrieving a weapon.
“At this time,” Sumner wrote, “Sgt. Jankowski attempted to grab Tanisha and place her in custody under the Baker Act.”
Barnwell reacted by pulling away and retreating to the back of the room.
“Sgt. Jankowski and myself immediately rushed Tanisha and went hands-on with her to keep her from retrieving any weapons,” Sumner wrote.
The deputy claimed Barnwell punched Jankowski in the chest several times.
“Tanisha also struck me several times in the chest area, causing equipment on my vest to break and fall off,” Sumner added. “While attempting to gain control of Tanisha’s hands, she was also kicking us. Tanisha struck me several times in the legs with her legs.”
The deputy wrote that during the fight, Barnwell made several verbal threats to kill the officers. He also said that when he was handcuffing the defendant, she grabbed his hands and arms in an attempt to scratch him, and from the back seat of his patrol car, the defendant spat at him, hitting a partition between the front and back seats.
