Officer brunt of arrestee's bad actions

Category: Front Page News Front Page News
Published: 19 July 2021 19 July 2021

By Roger Lanse

On Tuesday, July 13, 2021, at about 8:48 p.m. a Silver City Police Department officer was dispatched to the Seasonal Overnight Shelter at 610 N. Silver Street to a male reported as under the influence of an unknown substance. When the officer arrived the supervisor of the SOS advised she had picked up Will Macdonald, 22, homeless – Silver City, from the jail earlier that day and he hadn't been acting 'ok' since. He had tried to jump in front of a vehicle and had been challenging others to a physical fight while in the shelter.

According to an SCPD incident report narrative, the officer, "made contact with Will who was sitting down on the ground in front of the shelter. I asked Will if he was alright and Will began shaking his head 'no.' I asked Will if he had consumed any substance and Will shook his head 'yes.' I observed Will had a blank stare and was looking towards other subjects at the shelter in an angry manner."

"Will stood up and started approaching a citizen in an aggressive manner. I placed my right hand on Will's chest to stop Will from approaching the citizen, and at that time Will used his left hand to grab a hold of my wrist before pushing my arm off of his chest. After Will pushed my arm I used both of my hands to grab and maintain control of Will's arms. (Another patrolman) assisted by grabbing Will's right wrist, (and we) placed both of Will's arms behind Will's back before Will attempted to pull both of his arms towards the front of his body. At that time, (the other officer) applied a gooseneck wrist lock on Will's right wrist before Will was lowered to the ground. At that time I was able to place Will under arrest by handcuffing both of his hands behind his back, double locking the handcuffs and checking for tightness.

"I escorted Will to my patrol unit before transporting Will to the Silver City Police Department for paperwork. After completing paperwork Will was transported to Gila Regional Medical Center for a medical clearance. During the remaining time Will was under arrest, Will would repeatedly move both of his handcuffed arms to the front of his body by lowering his arms underneath his feet. While at Gila Regional Medical Center, medical staff provided Will with a Powerade. Will took a drink of the Powerade before turning towards me and spitting the Powerade across my face, chest, and pants. After Will spit the Powerade on me, I took the Powerade away from Wiill's possession and escorted Will back to my patrol unit. I then transported Will back to the Silver City Police Department before transporting Will to the Grant County Detention Center for booking.

"As I arrived at the Grant County Detention Center I opened the back of my patrol unit. Will placed both of his feet out of my patrol unit, faced me and made a gesture with his face as if he was going to spit toward me for a second time. As Will made the gesture I observed Will's saliva between his lips and feared Will was going to spit toward me again. Will then stepped out of my patrol unit and began walking toward the Grant County Detention Center's booking room. Once Will reached the door to the booking room, Will refused to walk through the door. At that time I used my right arm to grab the handcuffs on Will's wrists before pulling Will into the booking room. I then placed Will on the booking room bench where Will used his left hand to grab my black in color Oakley sunglasses which were hanging from my duty vest. I stated to Will "don't break those" before Will squeezed and bent the sunglasses. The sunglasses' left lens popped out of the sunglasses' frame and the sunglasses' left frame was bent as a result of Will squeezing the sunglasses. I believe the value of the sunglasses Will damaged would cost approximately $200 to replace.

"At this time I pressed Will's hands into his chest before Will grabbed the grip of my department issued taser with his right hand. I gave Will verbal commands to let go of the taser before I was able to pry Will's hands off the taser. Will was then released to Grant County Detention Center officers and booked into the Grant County Detention Center.

"I charged Will with one count of disarming a peace officer, two counts of battery upon a peace officer, one count of assault upon a peace officer, one count of resisting, evading, or obstructing an officer and one count of criminal damage to property."

According to GCDC staff. Macdonald is being held at that facility, as of July 19, under a no bond hold.

Content on the Beat

WARNING: All articles and photos with a byline or photo credit are copyrighted to the author or photographer. You may not use any information found within the articles without asking permission AND giving attribution to the source. Photos can be requested and may incur a nominal fee for use personally or commercially.

Disclaimer: If you find errors in articles not written by the Beat team but sent to us from other content providers, please contact the writer, not the Beat. For example, obituaries are always provided by the funeral home or a family member. We can fix errors, but please give details on where the error is so we can find it. News releases from government and non-profit entities are posted generally without change, except for legal notices, which incur a small charge.

NOTE: If an article does not have a byline, it was written by someone not affiliated with the Beat and then sent to the Beat for posting.

Images: We have received complaints about large images blocking parts of other articles. If you encounter this problem, click on the title of the article you want to read and it will take you to that article's page, which shows only that article without any intruders. 

New Columnists: The Beat continues to bring you new columnists. And check out the old faithfuls who continue to provide content.

Newsletter: If you opt in to the Join GCB Three Times Weekly Updates option above this to the right, you will be subscribed to email notifications with links to recently posted articles.

Submitting to the Beat

Those new to providing news releases to the Beat are asked to please check out submission guidelines at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/about/submissions. They are for your information to make life easier on the readers, as well as for the editor.

Advertising: Don't forget to tell advertisers that you saw their ads on the Beat.

Classifieds: We have changed Classifieds to a simpler option. Check periodically to see if any new ones have popped up. Send your information to editor@grantcountybeat.com and we will post it as soon as we can. Instructions and prices are on the page.

Editor's Notes

It has come to this editor's attention that people are sending information to the Grant County Beat Facebook page. Please be aware that the editor does not regularly monitor the page. If you have items you want to send to the editor, please send them to editor@grantcountybeat.com. Thanks!

Here for YOU: Consider the Beat your DAILY newspaper for up-to-date information about Grant County. It's at your fingertips! One Click to Local News. Thanks for your support for and your readership of Grant County's online news source—www.grantcountybeat.com

Feel free to notify editor@grantcountybeat.com if you notice any technical problems on the site. Your convenience is my desire for the Beat.  The Beat totally appreciates its readers and subscribers!  

Compliance: Because you are an esteemed member of The Grant County Beat readership, be assured that we at the Beat continue to do everything we can to be in full compliance with GDPR and pertinent US law, so that the information you have chosen to give to us cannot be compromised.