After an officer noticed the suspicious behavior of a man in a hoodie (and a handgun in his backpack) last Saturday in Jasonville, the man ran from the officer but didn’t get far.  

Dustin Lee Grissom, 33, Jasonville, was arrested by Sgt. Brian Pilant of the Jasonville Police Department last Saturday, April 10.

Sgt. Pilant was on routine patrol last Saturday when he noticed suspicious activity and checked it out. Sgt. Pilant had turned onto Burr Oak Street from North Lawton Street and saw a woman and a man walking toward him on Burr Oak. The two made a turn onto Grant Street and as the officer got closer, the woman was walking south on Grant but he saw the man walking through a residential yard on Grant.

Sgt. Pilant knew the people who lived at the residence where the man was walking and there were no vehicles there. The man was wearing a hoodie pulled up on his head and he was carrying a backpack. Sgt. Pilant drove around the block and the man walked up to the back door of the residence and knocked.

Sgt. Pilant knew the resident and he called them to ask if anybody was home. They said no and when told about the man in the hoodie at the back door, they asked Sgt. Pilant to check it out.

When Sgt. Pilant drove back and pulled into the driveway, the man was gone but his backpack was sitting on the porch by the back door. And then he saw the woman in the alley behind a motel to the south of the residence. She was looking toward the officer. When Sgt. Pilant looked around a corner of the house, he saw the man running down Grant Street toward the woman. Sgt. Pilant yelled for the man to stop but the man kept running.

Sgt. Pilant notified dispatch of the situation and an officer from the Linton Police Department was dispatched to assist.

When Sgt. Pilant went south on Grant to Hickory, he saw the man and woman walking in front of the motel. When he pulled into the parking lot, the man ran through a hole in a fence to the west and ran across a church parking lot. A short time later, Sgt. Pilant located the man out of breath in the back yard of a residence on North Park Street. The suspect was ordered to the ground.

The suspect was identified as Dustin Grissom who kept saying he ran because he was scared. He allegedly asked for the officer to give him a break and that he couldn’t go back to prison.

Grissom was transported to the Greene County Jail where he was booked in at 12:30 p.m. His bond was set at $2,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed. Grissom posted $200 on Sunday, April 11, and was released from jail.

Grissom is scheduled to appear in Greene Superior Court for an initial hearing on April 22 when he will be formally charged with:

• Carrying a handgun without a license, a Class A misdemeanor, and

• Resisting law enforcement – knowingly or intentionally forcibly resists, a Class A misdemeanor.

Sgt. Pilant reported that when he checked the backpack that Grissom left behind, he found a loaded .45 caliber handgun. The gun had not been reported stolen but Grissom did not have a permit to possess a handgun.