A local man who allegedly broke into several vehicles was hospitalized with a head injury after a confrontation with police has been indicted.
The Union County Grand Jury has charged Treyvon D’Angelo Higgins, 18, of 412 W. Third St., Marysville. Higgins with one count of felony obstructing official business and two misdemeanor counts each of vehicle trespass, criminal damaging or endangering and criminal trespass.
According to the Marysville Division of Police, about 7:03 p.m., July 16, a resident in the 1400 block of Milridge Drive called 911 to report a suspicious man. The caller said she believed the man was “high,” adding that he was acting erratically and entering vehicles. She said she believed he was attempting to start the vehicles.
When they arrived at the scene, officers found Higgins sitting inside a red Ford Fusion.
In bodycam video, shot from the perspective of Officer Curtis Wykoff, Higgins can be seen inside a red Ford Fusion on Milridge Drive. Wykoff told the man to get out of the vehicle. Higgins removed his shirt, opened the passenger side door and fell from the seat to the ground. Higgins laid on the ground for a few seconds, then jumped to his feet, yelled at the officer and ran toward Milford Avenue.
When Officer Jake Smith arrived at the scene he drove ahead of the man on Milford Avenue. Smith stopped his cruiser, blocking Higgins and traffic. Smith got out of his car while the man was still running. Higgins stutter stepped toward Smith who ordered him to get down. The man got down for a moment, then stood up again. Smith told Higgins that if he doesn’t get down, he will be tasered.
In the video, Higgins can be seen stepping toward the officer, though it is unclear if he is intending to confront the officer or to run.
Police officials have said Higgins approached one of the officers “in a confrontational manner and assumed a fighting stance.”
Smith then used a TASER on Higgins, who went rigid and fell directly backward, hitting his head on the road.
Union County Prosecutor Dave Phillips said it is the injury Higgins sustained in the fall that led to the felony charge. Phillips said the law says that if a suspect’s actions create a risk to law enforcement “even if that risk is slight” or to “any person,” they can be charged with obstructing official business.
“That ‘any person’ includes himself,” Phillips said. “So, when he ran, he did create a risk to law enforcement, even if the officers were not injured, and to himself and obviously he did suffer injury.”
As Higgins was being restrained, officers call for a medic. The man is handcuffed and hobbled then taken to the cruiser.
Through the entire process, Higgins was speaking incoherently.
When the medics arrive, they are told “he is on something… probably on meth or something.”
Paramedics from the Marysville Division of Fire took the man to Memorial Hospital. He was later transferred to the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
Phillips said Paramedics from the Marysville Division of Fire took the man to Memorial Hospital. He was later transferred to the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
Prosecutors said Higgins allegedly broke into two vehicles.
A witness said Higgins was “spazzing out” while he was in the car.
She said Higgins got into the back seat then crawled to the front again.
“It was rocking,” she said of the car.
She he was in the other car for “between five and 10 minutes before police arrived.”
“He was freaking out and then he got calm,” she said.
Phillips said Higgins allegedly caused “fairly minor damage to one car and several hundred dollars of damage to the other.”
If convicted, Higgins could face nearly two years before bars.