Several Calaveras County Deputies Injured While Arresting Trespasser
Valley Springs, CA – A Jackson man hit several Calaveras County Sheriff’s Deputies with tree logs and branches, and they fought back by firing a Taser and foam projectiles to catch and arrest him.
Receiving a report on Sunday (12/15) morning of a man trespassing and tampering with security cameras, deputies responded to the 600 block of Paloma Road in Valley Springs. In a remote area of the property, they discovered 52-year-old Rick Hopson putting up a tent for a campsite.
Sheriff spokesperson Greg Stark reports that when Hopson was contacted, he “became loud and uncooperative and refused to comply. After walking away, Stark details that the suspect grabbed a large tree branch (about 3-4 inches in diameter and over 4 feet long) and began swinging it at the deputy, who pulled out a Taser, and with Hopson not retreating, deployed it. The suspect then fled.
The deputy pursued him for about a half-mile until backup arrived, and Hopson then picked up another tree branch. When the suspect reached a baseball field parking lot on Paloma Road, another deputy fired a rigid foam or sponge projectile, striking the suspect. It had little effect on Hopson, who sheriff’s officials say then struck several deputies with the branch but was taken down and handcuffed.
Stark relayed that during the scuffle, one deputy suffered a significant injury and another sustained a fracture to a limb. Both were treated at an area hospital and released. Hopson is facing multiple felony charges, including assault with a deadly weapon, battery on a peace officer with injury, obstruction and resisting arrest, and trespassing.
