Georgia Southern University Police officers had to use pepper spray to break up a fight outside a restaurant over the weekend, and one suspect tried to grab an officer's weapon as he was trying to subdue her, police said.
It started when university and Statesboro police were dispatched to the report of a fight in the parking lot of Paulson Stadium at 11:56 p.m. Saturday. They found nothing there, but 911 dispatchers told them the fight was actually in the parking lot of nearby Bigshow's Burgers and Bar, 200 Lanier Drive.
On arriving there, GSU police Cpl. Chris Dyal reported seeing 15-20 men and women running through the parking lot and two men fighting near some vehicles. When the two men would not stop fighting despite police commands and efforts to pull them apart, Dyal pulled another officer out of the way and used the pepper spray, but the wind blew the spray back into his eyes and he was temporarily blinded, according to an incident report released Tuesday in response to an Open Records Act request by the Statesboro Herald.
When Dyal regained his vision, he saw a woman walking through the parking lot, pushing other people and repeatedly yelling obscenities, the report says.
Dyal told her to stop, but she wouldn't, so he jogged up behind her and grabbed her by the jacket. The woman, later identified as Breanna Michelle Kimbro, 21, of Lanier Drive, pulled away and grabbed onto the spoiler of a nearby vehicle, but Dyal was able to pry her hands away and handcuff her, according to the report.
While Dyal was escorting Kimbro to his patrol cruiser, he felt a tug on his belt and noticed that Kimbro had grabbed the grip of his service pistol and was pulling at it, the report says.
"I immediately pulled the weapon from her hands and it was never unsecured from my holster," Dyal wrote in the report.
Dyal said that the two men who had been fighting in the parking lot were caught by other officers on the scene. Those men were identified as Tyler Colbert Lockett, 20, of Pamela Way, and Rayshard Damond Fuse, 30, of Mill Street in Barnsville, according to the report.
Fuse told police that Kimbro was his girlfriend and that while they were inside the restaurant, Lockett began touching her inappropriately. Fuse confronted Lockett, and the fight started, the report says.
All three took breath alcohol tests. Kimbro registered 0.226 percent blood alcohol content, which is nearly three times the level considered legally drunk; Fuse registered 0.125 percent, above the legally drunk level, and Lockett registered 0.0 percent, according to the report.
Lockett was charged with affray and obstruction/hindering a law enforcement officer. Fuse was charged with affray. Kimbro was charged with disorderly conduct and obstruction/hindering a law enforcement officer. Kimbro, who is a Georgia Southern student, was also judicially referred to university officials for punishment.
Jason Wermers may be reached at (912) 489-9431.