By Joe Johnson
John Austin Rustin, 38, of Highland Park Drive was arrested October 12 after he assaulted a police officer who stopped his car for a traffic violation, according to the Athens-Clarke County Police Department.
An ACCPD incident report has the following information:
Officer Torie Teets was in her patrol car that was stopped for traffic at West Broad Street and Milledge Avenue when Rustin drove past in a 2012 Jaguar XJ while illegally using the center turn lane.
After the officer pulled the car over and got out to speak with Rustin she noticed a strong odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle.
Another officer who arrived as backup was watching Rustin as Teets began to search the Jaguar, when he began to fight with that officer.
Teets then deployed a taser, which struck the suspect twice before he fell on the roadway but got up and continued to run.
Teets caught up with him in a parking lot, and when trying to grab Rustin, he grabbed the officer by the hair and threw her to the ground and he ran again.
The backup officer chased after and tased Rustin some more, and as the suspect sat on the ground and was leaning up towards the officer, Teets feared that he might be trying to use the taser that was lying there within his reach, and so she “ran full speed at Rustin and forcibly tackled him back onto the ground.”
The officer recovered a bag that Rustin had thrown beneath a parked vehicle and it was found to contain an unspecified quantity of marijuana and 25 packets of cocaine. He had $637 in his pocket.
Rustin was arrested and booked into the jail on charges of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, felony obstruction, and simple battery on a police officer.
He was released from custody the following day upon posting bonds totaling $2,000.
Another one. Everyday.
This one just needs to be dragged in front of the ACC Public Safety Civilian Oversight Board and executed.