MONROE COUNTY, Ill. — A man has been charged with leading police on a pursuit and then punching a sheriff's deputy in Columbia on the Fourth of July.
Jerry Edwards, 59, of Waterloo has been charged with improper lane usage, aggravated fleeing and eluding, aggravated battery of a police officer, resisting a peace officer and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.
The Monroe County Sheriff's Department said deputies tried to pull Edwards over after they saw him swerving all over the roadway shortly after 2:16 p.m. on Rt. 3 south of Columbia. He didn't pull over, and deputies continued following him northbound at normal speeds.
The vehicle then turned onto Centerville Road from South Main Street, passed a car that was traveling the same direction and blew several stop signs while trying to get away from the deputies, among other traffic violations. Edwards slammed on the breaks twice to try to get deputies to crash into his vehicle, the department said.
The vehicle came to a stop in a trailer court on the 500 block of South Main Street, at which point deputies said he refused to listen to police orders and locked himself in the vehicle. When he kept reaching for an unknown object, deputies broke the driver's side window and opened the door.
Edwards then punched one of the deputies, the department said.
The deputies used a taser on him and then took him into custody. A glass pipe commonly used to smoke methamphetamine was found in his possession.
Edwards' bond is set at $50,000.
