A Switz City man suspected of reckless driving and making an unwelcome advance to a woman who was walking in Linton, is accused of injuring an officer while resisting arrest, damaging a patrol vehicle, and driving while intoxicated.

John Thomas Rogers, 28, Switz City, was arrested by Officer Alan Jackson of the Linton Police Department earlier this month. Rogers was booked into the Greene County Jail at 1:21 a.m. on Monday, July 12, following an incident that occurred late Sunday night, July 11.

Bond for Rogers was set at $19,000 surety with ten percent cash allowed and he posted $1,900 and was released later the same day as his arrest.

Rogers was scheduled to be in court this week for his initial hearing to face charges of:

Battery with bodily injury to a law enforcement officer, a Level 5 felony,
Disorderly conduct – engaged in fighting or tumultuous conduct, a Class B misdemeanor,
Operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a Class C misdemeanor,
Criminal mischief, a Class B misdemeanor, and
Resisting law enforcement – knowingly or intentionally forcibly resisted, a Class A misdemeanor.

Around 10:30 p.m. that Sunday when Officer Jackson was on patrol on East State Road 54 east of the shopping center in Linton, he came across a man and woman walking in the eastbound lane of the highway. He stopped and the man tried talking to him through the passenger side window of the patrol vehicle, at the same time LPD Dispatch was on the radio dispatching officers to a reckless driver in the area and to a fight on SR 54 near the Arby’s Restaurant. All of these things turned out to be related.

Officer Jackson was first on the scene in a parking lot at the Pregnancy Choices building, followed by other officers. During the course of his investigation, Officer Jackson talked to several individuals.

For one, he talked to the caller who reported reckless driving. The caller said she and her significant other were on their way home when they drove past the city park and saw a vehicle in the ditch near the bowling alley. She said the vehicle drove from the ditch into a post, then into the bowling alley’s parking lot. She said it was a black Honda Civic that appeared to be driven by a drunk driver who then left that area and drove to the parking lot of Pregnancy Choices where the driver got out of the vehicle and walked toward a woman who was walking in the area.

When Officer Jackson talked to the woman and man who were walking on the highway, the woman said she was walking to a friend’s house when she heard a man saying to her, “Hey baby girl, come here.” She said she did not know the man.

When Officer Jackson first pulled into the area, a black 2010 Honda Civic was there with the engine running and the lights on. Rogers was the driver and when Officer Jackson talked to him, he allegedly said he saw the woman walking on SR 54 and he stopped to see if she was in need of somebody.

According to Officer Jackson, Rogers exhibited signs of impairment. Rogers tensed up and tried to pull away but he was taken into custody and transported to the police department where he failed standard field sobriety testing and initially refused a chemical test then agreed to a blood draw.

Officer Jackson said Rogers was yelling at him during the trip to the hospital and once they arrived and got out of the vehicle, Rogers got in Officer Janzen Franklin’s face and lunged at him. When they got inside the hospital and stopped at the receptionist desk, he allegedly violently banged his head against the glass protecting the receptionist. He was taken out of the hospital at that point but made his body rigid in an attempt to not be put back into the patrol vehicle. Officers did get him back in but in the process, Officer Jackson received a large cut to the underside of an arm which was bleeding. Rogers allegedly also attempted to kick the officers.

While Officer Jackson was applying for a search warrant, Rogers allegedly tried to kick a window out of the patrol vehicle causing damage with a repair estimate around $170. Rogers was removed from the vehicle and handcuffed to the front bumper guard of the vehicle with leg restraints to prevent kicking. While officers were waiting on the search warrant and monitoring him, Rogers was yelling loudly.

When the warrant was issued, Rogers was rolled back in on a cot for hospital personnel to perform a blood draw – results pending. Then when he was seated in a wheelchair for the trip out of the hospital, Officer Jackson reported Rogers put his feet on the floor to stop the wheelchair from rolling. Officers picked up his feet. He allegedly stiffened up and resisted getting back into the car again.

When they arrived at the jail, Rogers continued to resist and wouldn’t walk in, but a couple of officers assisted him and he was booked in.