Jax Fire & Rescue employee charged with beating cop
ORANGE PARK – A Clay County Sheriff’s Office sergeant was forced to use a taser on an employee of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department during a weekend incident that escalated out of control.
The fracas began Sept. 19 at 4:46 a.m. when Sgt. Gary Lavaron was dispatched to a home where a disturbance had been reported. When he got there, Lavaron stated that David Pierce Powell, 54, of Orange Park, “was having repeated severe mood swings, going from calm to extremely irate very quickly,” states the CCSO report.
Police said Powell removed a bracelet from his wrist and threw it at the officer while being “very hostile” and yelling.
When Lavaron told Powell to not throw anything else, Powell slapped the officer’s hand. Officers had to pin Powell on to a couch to try and subdue him to place him under arrest, however, he kept trying to kick officers.
“He then managed to get up from the couch and tried to run from the room,” states the report. “I grabbed the defendant from behind and while I was holding him he grabbed a wooden dining room chair as if he intended to throw or swing it at us.”
Lavaron then pulled out the taser “hitting him in his lower back and right wrist, which caused him to fall to the [floor] and cut his ear.”
After a standard medical evaluation at Orange Park Medical Center, Powell was booked into the Clay County Jail on one count each of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence. He has since been released on an undisclosed bond.

Attempted home invasion ends in arrest
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – What began as a possible home invasion last weekend ended in the arrest of a Keystone Heights man for multiple charges.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office arrested John Junior Williams II, 45, on Sept. 19 at 4:46 a.m. after interviewing the victim and others familiar with the incident.
According to the police report, officers responded to a home on Cornell Road where they found Williams “sitting on the tailgate of his truck” talking with two other CCSO deputies.
The victim said the incident began when she responded to a knock on her door.
“The victim then opened the door a few inches and saw that the defendant’s penis was exposed, partially erect with no pants on and smelled of alcohol,” states the CCSO report.
The woman said Williams then grabbed her by the arm and attempted to force his way into her home while grabbing her underwear, however, she was able to “push the suspect back out of the doorway and secured the door,” states the report.
Deputies booked Williams into the Clay County Jail on one count each of assault and battery during burglary, simple battery and sexual battery by a person over age 18 on another person over age 18.
At press time, Williams remained in jail where he is being held without bond.

Separate crashes claim two motorcyclists
JACKSONVILLE – The Florida Highway Patrol’s Jacksonville office reports that two area men were killed in separate motorcycle accidents last weekend.
Police said Jason Platz, 40, of Jacksonville, was driving a 2013 Yamaha motorcycle when he crashed heading westbound on Wells Road near Eldridge Avenue around 1:16 a.m. on Sept. 17. FHP investigators said Platz “misjudged the curve, causing him to lose control and overturn.” He was pronounced dead on the scene.
About three hours later, FHP said a crash on County Road 315C near Trawick Road claimed the life of Derrek Ray Meadows, 29, of Green Cove Springs.
Meadows was heading northbound when, for reasons unknown, ran off the road on the right and ran into the ditch around 4:30 a.m. while driving a 1984 Honda. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash.

Sex charges lodged against Orange Park man
GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Authorities have charged an Orange Park man with lewd and lascivious exhibition by an offender over 18 on a victim between the ages of 12 and 16, transmitting harmful electronic images via computer and using the computer to seduce or solicit a child.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office arrested Jordan Harnden, 21, on Sept. 16 at 10:45 a.m. after an investigation that began Sept. 9 when police interviewed the 14-year-old male victim.
According to the CCSO report, the victim met Harnden at a family gathering and later spent the night with Harnden, which “is when the sexual activity occurred between him and the defendant.”
Police said they were able to go online “to assume the online identity of the victim in an attempt to further the investigation,” states the police report.
At press time, Harnden remained held in the Clay County Jail where his bond is set at $200,009.