A York County man was charged with assaulting a law enforcement officer after a May 26 incident that deputies say culminated with him smashing his own head against the screen that separates the front and backseats of the police car so hard he required stitches.
That incident was not the first time injuring himself during an arrest: after he was arrested in May 2008, he also slammed his head into that screen and had to be taken for stitches.
In the most recent incident, Christopher Walters, a 31-year-old Seaford resident, was stopped by a deputy from the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Department around 11:10 p.m. on the 1200 block of Wolf Trap Road. The deputy approached the vehicle and began talking to Walters. He smelled a strong odor of alcohol and saw bloodshot eyes on Walters, said Lt. Dennis Ivey of the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Department.
The deputy arrested Walters for driving under the influence. Walters then grew out of control and began kicking, Ivey said. Once he was placed in the backseat of a police car, he began banging his head against the screen that separates the front seat area from the prisoner transport seats in the back, where he lacerated his head, Ivey said. That injury required stitches at the hospital before he was taken to jail.
A second deputy had earlier arrived at the scene as backup. Neither of the deputies were hurt during the incident, Ivey said.
Walters was charged with felony assault on a police officer and a number of misdemeanors: resisting lawful arrest, driving under the influence of alcohol, driving after forfeiture of license, refusing to take a blood or breath test and unsafe lane change.
Walters pleaded guilty in 2008 in York-Poquoson Circuit Court to two counts of felony assault on a law enforcement officer. He was sentenced to five years in the penitentiary for each of those offenses, with the sentences running consecutively. Four years and five months of that time was suspended.
Ivey said that conviction stemmed from a May 2008 incident at a trailer on the 1300 block of Orianna Road. Deputies responded to a reported hit-and-run and arrested Walters. He then kicked one of the officers in the torso before he was placed in the back of a police vehicle.
He then hit his head against the same screen that he hit his head against May 26, Ivey said. That also required hospitalization. He was taken to Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News, where officers from the Newport News Police Department responded after he became disorderly there. In that incident, Ivey said Walters spit blood on the arms, uniform and face of a Newport News Police officer.
