Sheriff's deputy says he feared for life during scuffle
By Jack Stephens
Published in News on May 17, 2005 1:45 PM
A Wayne County sheriff's deputy said he was concerned for his life when he fought a man, 90 pounds heavier, last week during an emergency call in Rosewood.
"That's the worst fight I've been in, and the scaredest I've been in 17 years," Sgt. Sherwood Daly said Monday. "I didn't know if Deputy Arnold and I would come out of it and be able to talk about it."
Daly, who weighs 160 pounds, was referring to a battle that he and other deputies had Friday with a 5-foot-11, 250-pound man in the Rosewood Valley subdivision.
Darryl James Sutton, 21, of Fisher Drive, was eventually subdued, arrested and charged with four felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon on a law-enforcement officer, three felony counts of assault inflicting serious injury on a law-enforcement officer, three misdemeanor counts each of injury to personal property and resisting arrest, and one count of second-degree trespass.
Daly, whose left leg was immobilized, was to return to an orthopedic doctor to determine the extent of damage to his knee.
Deputy Chuck Arnold was to see a doctor again about a jaw injury. Two other officers, Lt. Darryl Overton and Deputy David Rose, suffered minor arm injuries.
Sheriff Carey Winders said Monday that Sutton had told friends to beware of law officers.
"He had told a neighbor two weeks ago that they were Jews and the sheriff's officers were the Romans and to be ready," Winders said.
The sheriff said Sutton's girlfriend's brother told deputies that Sutton had had a dream in which he said God told him that lawmen would be coming for him but not to fear because he was getting stronger every day.
Winders said officers have the legal right to remove a boyfriend or girlfriend from a home if he or she is asked to leave and is not contributing to the rent or expenses. If the person returns, he or she can be charged with trespass. That's why deputies were removing Sutton, Winders said. Winders also said law authorities also have the right to remove someone from a home during a domestic dispute and to seize any weapons in the home and charge the defendant a storage fee for them.
Daly said Friday's struggle started with a call to the Sheriff's Office for help.
The sergeant was dispatched to the home to stop a fight between two men. When he arrived, he saw no fight nor argument. But Sutton's girlfriend's brother told him that Sutton had choked his sister, who was pregnant. Daly saw no visible marks on the woman's throat and said she would have to press charges.
Sutton, the woman and the woman's mother lived in the home. When Daly asked Sutton if he worked or contributed to the expenses, Sutton said no, Daly said.
At that point, Daly said he told Sutton that he would have to leave or be charged with trespass. Sutton said he would leave as soon as Daly moved his patrol car. Then Sutton changed his mind, Daly said, and refused to leave. Arnold then charged Sutton with resisting, obstructing and delaying an officer. The two deputies approached Sutton, who ran inside, with the deputies following.
That's when the fighting started.
"He got me in a headlock and choked me," Daly said. "I couldn't breathe."
Daly said Sutton pulled out a knife and the deputy warned him not to use it.
"Please, drop the knife and come on, let's end this outside," Daly said he told Sutton.
The plea had no effect, the sergeant recalled.
"He wouldn't do it. He looked at us and laughed at us," Daly said. "He threw the knife down. As we holstered our guns, he hauled off and attacked us both again."
Daly said Sutton threw him out of the door to the carport. The sergeant said he rolled over, looked back and saw Sutton beating up on Arnold. Daly and Arnold emptied two cans of mace at Sutton, but they had little effect on him. The officers then called for backup while Sutton barricaded himself in a bathroom.
After more officers arrived and broke into the bathroom, Sutton fought deputies Kenneth Grice and Lee Davis for a few seconds andthen ran into a hallway.
"He came through the hallway like a raging bull," Overton said, "slapping, hitting and knocking everybody down."
Sutton's was soaked with water and mace, Overton said, so it was difficult to get a grip on him.
As Sutton ran outside, his baggy pants slipped down, he tripped on them and fell into a ditch, Overton said. That's when deputies finally were able to subdue him and take him into custody.
Sutton was placed in the Wayne County Jail in lieu of a $250,500 secured bond. His first court appearance is May 26.