BEVERLY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – A man incurred several charges on Saturday following officer response to an ongoing domestic situation in the Randolph County area.
As indicated by reports from Deputy Pingley of the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, on Saturday, March 11, 2023, 911 dispatched a domestic in progress at Park One Road in the Beverly area. The individual calling advised that she was being pushed around by Steven Rutherford.
Sgt. Cogar, Deputy Wolfe, and Deputy Pingley of the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, along with Officers with the West Virginia State Police responded to the location of the incident.
Upon arriving on the scene, Mr. Rutherford was located by officers and could be seen walking around the trailer park. Rutherford advised officers that he had “drank a 15 pack of beer” and was observed to be slurring his words and smelled of alcohol according to reports. Rutherford was also heard to be yelling profanity and exhibited clear signs of intoxication.
During a search of the subject for officer safety, Rutherford purportedly turned around on one of the officers, clinched his fists, and growled before “making a movement towards the officer causing a reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a violent injury.”
Rutherford resisted when officers attempted to apply handcuffs, using his body and arms to block officers which led to a struggle. This struggle result in two Axon Body 3 camera devices worn by Deputy Wolfe and Deputy Pingley respectively to hit the pavement, resulting in damage to the devices including dents and scratch marks.
This resulted in destruction of property charges against the subject, as the pricing for the Axon Body 3 camera is reported to start at $699.
Rutherford was taken to the ground by responding officers before being placed under arrest and placed inside Deputy Pingley’s cruiser. Criminal history checks reportedly indicate that the subject had previously received a public intoxication charge on May 23, 2018, making the recent charge a second offense.
Steven Rutherford was charged with Assault on a Police Officer, Destruction of Property, and Public Intoxication 2nd offense. Rutherford was arrested and transported to Tygart Valley Regional Jail.
