A Kannapolis man is in jail after becoming combative with a Salisbury Police officer early Monday morning.
Officer Mark Harrington wrote in an arrest report he approached Joshua Dane Farrell, 31, after seeing him crash a 1999 Honda Accord into a tree near the intersection of South Main and Bank streets about 2:30 a.m.
Harrington, who was doing paperwork nearby at the time of the incident, said when he walked over to check on Farrell he saw him get out of the still moving car and throw something black into a nearby trashcan.
Farrell told Harrington he wasn’t driving the car. Harrington said when he asked Farrell what happened, he became irate and began cursing at him.
“I could tell Farrell was extremely intoxicated and that he was starting to become combative,” Harrington wrote.
Harrington was trying to place Farrell under arrest when the man jerked away from the handcuffs and hit Harrington on the right side of the head. As Harrington pushed back, Farrell tried to grab and squeeze his throat.
Harrington ended up using a Taser on Farrell and calling for backup.
Officers later found marijuana in the front pocket of Farrell’s pants. Harrington pulled the black item out of the trashcan and discovered it was a straw with white residue on the inside.
Harrington asked Farrell for a blood sample, but after refusing several times he obtained a warrant for it. After having blood drawn at the hospital, Farrell was charged with resisting a public officer, assaulting a law enforcement officer, injury to personal property, possession of marijuana, profession of drug paraphernalia, impaired and driving while license revoked.
He is being held in the Rowan County Detention Center under a $15,000 bond.