(Stillwater, Okla.) – A Cushing man pleaded guilty Friday to repeatedly hitting a detention officer in the head with a police hand-held radio – while the officer was in the process of releasing him from the Payne County Jail on drunk driving and drug possession misdemeanor charges.
Dennis John Lewallen Jr., 51, who was then re-arrested, does not remember the incident but has seen video of it, defense attorney Jodie Gage told District Judge Phillip Corley in court on Friday.
As part of a plea bargain with the prosecution, Lewallen was placed on five years’ probation Friday except 90 days in jail, with credit for time already served, and ordered to take an anger management course along with paying $1,560 in fines and assessments on that felony charge.
Lewallen also pleaded guilty Friday to drunk driving and drug possession in Cushing, both misdemeanors for which he was given concurrent one-year suspended sentences except 90 days in jail, with an order to have a substance abuse evaluation, undergo random drug tests, complete a victim impact panel and pay $800 in fines and assessments.
His court-appointed attorney told the judge Friday, “He intends to go back to Mississippi,” where he has been accepted into treatment.
When Lewallen was asked by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Henninger why he attacked the detention officer, “he told me he did not know,” an affidavit said.
The jailer was taken to the Stillwater Medical Center where he “was treated for his injuries and received five staples in the back right side of his head,” the affidavit said.
Lewallen was originally being held in the Payne County Jail on misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence of an intoxicating substance and possessing a controlled drug listed as Suboxone Sublingual film on Oct. 29, 2018, in Cushing, court records show.
But when Lewallen was arraigned from jail on Oct. 30, 2018, Special District Judge Katherine Thomas found that there was no probable cause affidavit for review and ordered that he be released on a personal recognizance bond to re-appear in court the next day, court records show.
According to the deputy’s affidavit, the detention officer said that “he was escorting Dennis Lewallen out of the jail on Oct. 30,” 2018, and when they got to the west door, “Lewallen bumped into him with his stomach.”
The detention officer said that after he told Lewallen to step back, “Lewallen grabbed his jail radio from his duty belt and struck him in the head multiple times,” before he was able to take Lewallen to the ground, the affidavit said.
Video of the incident showed the detention officer escorting Lewallen to the west door where the officer opened the door and Lewallen chest-bumped him before backing off, the affidavit said.
“Then it shows Lewallen walking around to square off with (the detention officer),” before lunging at him, shoving him into the walkway and grabbing his radio, the affidavit said.
With the radio in hand, Lewallen struck the detention officer in the head, the affidavit said. When the detention officer began trying to take Lewallen to the ground, Lewallen struck the officer in the head again before the officer got on top of Lewallen, the affidavit said.
The video showed two detention officers coming to assist in placing Lewallen in handcuffs, the affidavit said.
***
