Officer holds suspect at gun point until assistance arrives

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – The call of a man beating an older man came over the police radio at 4:22 am Wednesday.

At Mill Streets near the Pyro Shows parking lot a La Follette police officer held a suspect at gunpoint until back up arrived, according to police radio chatter between the officer and dispatcher.

La Follette Police Officer Timothy Collingsworth was on routine patrol in the downtown area traveling east on Mill Street when a woman ran out into the road yelling, screaming and crying for help, according to the police report. When the patrolman stepped out of his cruiser the woman yelled “He is going to beat him to death.”

Collingsworth said he saw a man standing over an elderly man, age 73, beating him in the head with his right fist and holding him by the hair with his left hand. The victim lay on the ground motionless bleeding from the top of his face and head. Collingsworth yelled at Johnny Franklin Davis to let the man go, but he continued to strike him prompting the officer to pepper spray Davis in the face. The officer also noted in his report that Davis’ pants were pulled down below his knees.

LPD Officer Jesse Ferguson arrived, and he and Collingsworth then tackled Davis. The officers cuffed Davis as he continued to yell, cuss and resist. Collingsworth warned him not to do it, but Davis spit in Collingsworth’s face, according to the LPD report.

The victim was transported to the La Follette Medical Center by the Campbell County EMS.

Davis, 36, of Davis Chapel View Drive, La Follette, was charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, vandalism over $1,000, aggravated kidnapping, attempted rape and burglary. He remains housed in the Campbell County Jail this morning on a $350,000 secured bond and is due in General Sessions Court on March 25. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 03/23/2021-6AM)