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ST. GEORGE — Criminal charges were filed Monday against a man who police say attacked at least two officers and tried to take an officer's gun.
Brandon Gage Woods, 20, of St. George, is charged in 5th District Court with disarming a police officer, a first-degree felony; two counts of assault on an officer and failing to stop at the command of an officer, class A misdemeanors; interfering with an arresting officer, a class B misdemeanor; and intoxication, a class C misdemeanor.
On Friday, St. George police found Woods kicking his legs inside a small pickup truck. When an officer approached the truck, Woods jumped out and began yelling and running at the officer, then stopped and attempted to stumble away, according to a police affidavit.
"I believed the male was possibly under the influence of some type of drug. He had a look in his eyes like he didn't know what was going on and he continued to stumble while trying to get away from me," the officer wrote in the affidavit.
As other officers attempted to talk to Woods, he allegedly assaulted one officer and then started running again.
"As I ran after him I watched him stumble to the asphalt and roll. He sprang up and appeared to get into a fighting stance while on his knees. As I attempted to take him into custody he swung his right arm at me in an attempt to hit me. I tackled him to the asphalt at this point and he attempted to hit me again with his left hand," the officer wrote.
A second officer tackled Woods as he tried to get up again. It was at that point the first officer saw that Woods had his hand on the officer's gun.
"I had to pin his hand on my gun to prevent him from getting it out of my holster. During this struggle, Brandon had hit my mag release button on my firearm and released the magazine. I later located it on the asphalt," the affidavit states, "It took four officers to control Brandon because he was so combative."
When medical personnel arrived, they "injected him with a sedative" which only worked for a few seconds before Woods became combative again and a restraining device had to be used to prevent him from kicking officers, the affidavit states.
"It appears Brandon was under the influence of some type of drug and was possible having some type of psychosis due to it," according to the affidavit.
