BRANCHBURG TOWNSHIP, NJ (Somerset County) – A 24-year-old Virginia man has been charged after allegedly assaulting and spitting at police in Branchburg Township, according to Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald.
On Friday, September 23, at around 11:47 p.m., police responded to a business for a report of a disorderly customer who was attempting to break a fence in the parking lot, McDonald said.
Upon their arrival, officers were directed to a man, identified as Austin Evan Whitmire of Falls Church, who was in the business parking lot bleeding from his right hand. While officers were speaking with Whitmire, he punched the fence and then began yelling, cursing, and lunged towards one of the officers, McDonald said.
The officers restrained Whitmire and while attempting to handcuff him he refused to comply with their verbal commands and kicked one of the officers on the thigh. An additional officer sustained a minor laceration to his leg which occurred during the arrest, McDonald said.
While being transported to an area hospital by the Branchburg Rescue Squad for treatment to his hand, Whitmire spit at one of the officers who was escorting him into the ambulance, McDonald said.
Whitmire was charged with third-degree aggravated assault on a police officer, fourth-degree throwing bodily fluid on a law enforcement officer, criminal mischief, resisting arrest, and creating public alarm, McDonald said.
After receiving medical treatment, Whitmire was lodged in the Somerset County Jail pending a detention hearing, McDonald said.
