Photo via Discarted

Tony Overman, staff photographer for the Olympian in Washington, was arrested at the scene of a fire on Friday for hitting a Lacey detective in the “nose with his forehead.” That apparently amounts to a charge of simple assault and obstruction.

From Det. David Miller’s perspective, Overman entered a restricted area and was told to leave. Det. Miller told another officer if he did it again he’d be arrested. This prompted a heated exchange between the two, where, Det. Miller claims, the forehead-nose contact took place. His report says:

He appeared to be very upset. He yelled again, ‘What did you say?’ I responded, ‘If you cross the taped area again you will be arrested.’ Overman got inches from my face and yelled, ‘I left didn’t I.’ Overman then hit me in the nose with his forehead.”

As for Overman, he said he did approach the restricted area but did not enter it. He said Det. Miller got aggressive with him and “put his face literally half an inch from my face. I didn’t move. He instigated the contact. He touched his nose to my nose.” He continues:

“When our noses touched, very, very softly, at that point he stopped and slammed me in the chest with two hands, really, really hard.”

Interestingly though, the other four Lacey cops who were at the scene did not mention this physical altercation in their reports. The Lacey Police Department is investigating the incident.

It seems like a MAJOR waste of tax dollars, if you ask us. Not to rail on cops all the time, but that should not have escalated to the point of arrest. Why can’t certain law enforcement keep their egos and tempers in check and keep things in perspective? It was a nose bump for god’s sake! 

By the way, an Austin cop was fired after his department reviewed an incident where he claimed a suspect was aggressive and determined his account wasn’t credible (his dashboard camera told a different story). That is not to say all police fabricate incident reports; it is to say it’s nice when the rotten ones are called out for it.

Article from The Olympian via PDNPulse.