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MILLCREEK — A Unified police officer was taken to a hospital and later released after being attacked by a man suspected in a vandalism case Thursday, authorities said.
Ousseynou Niang, 28, was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault of a police officer, resisting arrest and criminal mischief, according to Unified police.
The officer had responded to a report of a vandalism outside a smoke shop located at 909 E. 4500 South shortly before noon, Unified Police Lt. Brian Lohrke said.
"The report we got was that a highly-agitated male was outside the store attempting to break a window and get inside the store," he said.
One of the responding officers spotted Niang in the parking lot and attempted to take him into custody but the man refused to comply, Lohrke said. The officer deployed a TASER and used his baton but neither technique worked before both the officer and Niang fell to the ground.
Niang got on top of the officer during the struggle and began punching the officer before a customer was able to intervene and the employees of the smoke shop pulled Niang from the officer, Lohrke said.
Niang was taken into custody shortly after. Lohrke said the officer was taken to a hospital in fair condition after suffering minor injuries to his head. He was later released from the hospital.
The officer's name was not released but Lohrke said he is a 3-year veteran with Unified police after working at the county jail for about 7 years.
"We are grateful for the citizens who helped him," Lohrke added.
This story will be updated as soon as more information is made available.
