SHAWNEE COUNTY– A Topeka Police officer was charged and attacked by a suspect Thursday morning while responding to an unrelated call for service.
Just after 9:00 a.m. the officer was dispatched to a home in the 200 block of SE 34th St. to investigate a possible unwanted subject, according to police spokesperson Gretchen Spiker.
When the officer arrived on scene at a boarded up home, a man unrelated to the original call came riding by on a bicycle. Police Sgt. Scott Scurlock says the bicyclist tried to get the officer's attention.
Scurlock says when the officer asked the man to wait, the suspect charged the officer, knocked him over and punched him several times. During the tussle, the man tried unsuccessfully to grab the officer's gun.
A community member immediately stepped in to assist the officer. The suspect later identified as 22-year-old Justin Reed was then taken into custody. The officer was not seriously hurt in the attack, according to Spiker.
“The Topeka Police Department is very grateful to the citizen who assisted during the incident. Above and beyond that, we have all been profoundly moved by the widespread community outpouring of support and concern that we received afterwards,” said Topeka Police Chief Bryan Wheeles. “I am very proud of the brave work that our police officers do every day to keep us safe.”
As a result of the investigation Reed was booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges including Aggravated battery on LEO, Interference with LEO, Robbery and Possession of marijuana.
The circumstances of this attack remain under investigation.