Sheriff: Deputy fought off attack by man more than twice her size
MAGNOLIA (WJER) (July 6, 2023) – A female sheriff’s deputy reportedly fought off an attack from a drunk man more than twice her size Tuesday.
He faces a felony charge. She’s back on the job with a sore wrist.
Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell says Deputy Stephanie Donley at around 7:45 p.m. responded to a call of an intoxicated male fighting with family members at a home on Hilltop Drive in Sandy Township.
“The individual was in the basement when she got there, but then she heard loud stomping as he came upstairs, and according to her he made it up to the first floor of the house and immediately attacked her.”
Campbell says Donley is about five feet tall and 125 pounds. Her alleged assailant is six feet tall and about 300 pounds.
She used her baton, knees, and defensive techniques to hold the man off for about eight minutes and even got a cuff on him, according to Campbell.
“They were knocking stuff over. They were wrestling. They were fighting. They were punching. It was just all of that. It was just a fight.”
Eventually five officers arrived to separate them. Campbell says it took all of them to carry the man to the squad car.
Donley drove the suspect to the jail and had her wrist checked out at the hospital. Campbell says it’s OK.
“We’re pretty proud of her. She did exactly what she’s supposed to do, but I’ll tell you, this guy was a large size and he would have been a handful for anybody, let alone someone who’s a little smaller like her.”
The man – 28-year-old Andrew Sears-Miller of Magnolia – was released from the Tuscarawas County Jail on his own recognizance after a 10 a.m. arraignment Wednesday in New Philadelphia Municipal Court. He is charged with assault on an officer, a fourth-degree felony, and two low-level misdemeanors.