A suspect arrested early Saturday in the assault of a Missouri State Highway Patrol officer had the lawman’s handcuffs in his pocket and his service weapon concealed in the waistband of his jeans.
Larry P. Brashers, 21, of Pomona, is in the Texas County Jail this week on $100,000 cash bond. He is accused of assaulting Cpl. Curtis Haden of the patrol after the officer made contact Friday evening with the Howell County man at Highway H and U.S. 63 south of Houston.
Haden, an 18-year veteran of the patrol, was handcuffing Brashers, who was wanted in Howell County for not appearing on several charges, when he struck the officer and placed him in a head lock, according to a probable cause statement filed in court. Haden, fearful that he was about to lose consciousness, removed his service weapon as the two struggled, and it fired into the ground.
According to Sgt. Jeff Kinder of the patrol, Brashers held Haden at gunpoint as he took the officer’s wallet, a small amount of cash, three credit cards, one debit card, car keys and a flashlight.
An alarmed passerby alerted authorities after seeing Haden’s patrol car door open and his hat on the ground. A Missouri State Highway Patrol officer and a Houston Police Department patrolman rushed to the area to aid Haden.
As a manhunt began, Haden was transported to Texas County Memorial Hospital with moderate injuries. He was treated and released.
The incident sparked a three-hour search of the area and brought several officers from Troop G of the Missouri State Highway Patrol into the county. Officers watched intersections, looking for any sign of Brashers’ truck.
Kinder made contact with Brashers by cellular telephone, and the suspect was arrested at about 1:20 a.m. Saturday near U.S. 63 and Gardner Road just north of where the assault occurred.
Texas County Prosecutor Mike Anderson said Brashers faces several charges: first-degree assault of a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest, stealing of the officer’s firearm, robbery associated with the theft of a billfold and other items, armed criminal action, stealing a credit device and unlawful use of a weapon that belonged to Haden.