LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – A LaFollette man is being held on a $500,000 bond after being charged with assaulting a police officer and multiple drug violations on Tuesday morning. 

LaFollette Police arrested Justin Campbell, 35, of Pleasant Ridge, after he refused a stop/frisk command, resisted arrest and struck an officer. 

According to a LaFollette Police Report, Officer Tony Mahar was on patrol when he noticed “two male subjects walking near a church building at two o’clock in the morning  wearing hooded shirts.” 

Mahar made contact with the two individuals and turned on his emergency lights. According to the report, Mahar stopped Cody Young and Justin Campbell and asked them what they were doing walking around the closed church at 2 a.m. The pair replied they were trying to get WiFi. 

According to the report, Young stopped and talked to the Officer, while Justin Campbell “stayed away.” 

Officer Mahar asked Campbell to “step off the hill” and walk down to the patrol car. Mahar asked the pair if they were on probation and they both replied yes. Mahar then asked if either had weapons, to which they replied no. 

He then informed them he was going to frisk them for weapons. While Mahar was checking Young for weapons, Campbell took off running. 

According to the report, Campbell ignored verbal commands to stop running. When Officer Mahar caught up with him, he got him on the ground, told him to put his hands behind his back and lay flat. 

“He then tried to stand up and I applied a compliant strike to the rib area and got the defendant back on the ground,” Mahar wrote in his incident report.  Once again Mahar told Campbell to lay flat on the ground, but he was able to get back on his feet. According to the report, Mahar grabbed him from behind and Cambell began “punching” him in the face and “scratching” at his eyes. The officer was able to strike Campbell in the face and “get space” at which point he deployed pepper spray.

After spraying Campbell, officer Mahar was able to get him on the ground. At this point, Sgt. James Farmer, Campbell County Sheriff’s Sgt. Josh Jeffers and other officers showed up on the scene and law enforcement was able to get Campbell handcuffed and on his feet. 

Officers searched Campbell and in his pocket found a small bag with a white crystal like substance in it, a small bag with a green leafy substance in it, and one Suboxone strip package that was unopened. Campbell then refused to get in the patrol car and had to be physically picked up and placed in the car by officers.

The other male subject, Cody Young, “took off on foot” while Mahar was fighting with Campbell. 

Campbell was transported to the county jail and charged with evading arrest, assault on a police officer, possession of a schedule II controlled substance, possession of a schedule VI controlled substance, possession of a schedule III controlled substance and resisting arrest. He has a court date set for Nov. 9. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 10/21/2021-6AM)

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