By Barry Porterfield
Criminal charges were filed Monday against a man who started the recently passed holiday weekend by taking on a Pauls Valley police officer and challenging him to a fight.
Not a good idea as Theopolus Rogers, 44, reported to be intoxicated at the time, found himself in jail and now facing a whole fistful of formal allegations filed in Garvin County District Court.
In all there are four counts against Rogers, including one for obstructing an officer and three others related to illegal drugs, namely marijuana.
The ordeal began when police were alerted the night of July 3 to some type of physical altercation that had occurred between Rogers and a family relative, according to a filed report.
With police contacted by Rogers’ brother-in-law, it was local officer James Garrison who went to check on Rogers at his residence in the 500 block of South Willow.
Once there it only took moments for the officer to recognize the odor of burnt marijuana. He also quickly spotted some of the illegal drug setting on a table in the home’s doorway.
Rogers was at first reluctant to step outside to talk to the officer as he admitted to being under the influence of something and he didn’t want to go to jail.
After the two briefly talked about the fight that started the whole thing, Garrison began asking questions about the marijuana smell and the substance that were apparently out in plain sight.
The response was quick as Rogers became combative and went inside the residence taking the substance believed to be marijuana with him.
Following behind the officer entered a bedroom to find Rogers coming at him with a pair of scissors in his hand.
The scissors were quickly dropped as Garrison shouted commands at the resident. This time Rogers turned and went back into the bedroom. The main problem for Garrison is he had seen a large knife on a dresser, which never factored into the incident.
Reports show Rogers became enraged when he was told to follow the officer’s instructions or physical force would be used against him.
According to Garrison, the suspect jumped on him. This action led to Rogers being forced by the officer to walk out the front door.
Once a second officer arrived at the site Rogers is reported to have done something neither really expected.
“I again informed Mr. Rogers that he was making a mistake by resisting us; that he needed to just put his hands behind his back,” Garrison stated in his filed report.
“Mr. Rogers looked at Sgt. (Derrick) Jolley and started moving his arms in front of his body as to represent a martial artist and also began making noises like you would hear in a martial arts movie.”
A substance intended to restrain a subject was sprayed into Rogers’ eyes as he was then taken into custody.
Reports added a similar but brief incident later took place once Rogers was taken to and booked into the county jail facility.
