2 police officers and 2 hospital security guards injured in confrontations www.privateofficer.com

 

Valparaiso IN April 3 2012 A mentally unstable man threatened officers with a sword Sunday night at his Pines Township home, and he punched and kicked officers and tried to grab a gun at Porter hospital in Valparaiso, police said.

Christopher Battishill, 38, was charged with four felonies — disarming of a law enforcement officer, intimidation and two counts of battery to law enforcement officers; plus four misdemeanors — two counts of battery, disorderly conduct and resisting law enforcement.

Police visited Battishill twice last week. Then on Saturday his behavior reportedly grew increasingly erratic, with him saying he was God returned from the dead and his mother was the devil. She described Battishill as bipolar but said he does not take medication for it.

Two officers arrived about 10:45 p.m. Saturday to Battishill’s home in the 600 block of Old Chicago Road to find him making the same proclamations and declaring that his mother needed to die and that everyone would die at 4:20 p.m. Sunday. He also said if officers trespassed into his home, they would have to shoot him or he would kill them, according to the police report.

After watching his behavior for several minutes through the open blinds, police chose to enter the house to take him for a mental health commitment.

As one officer went around to the back of the house, the other, with a police dog by his side, opened the front door and was confronted by Battishill with a “crazy look” on his face and a sword behind his back, the arrest report said. When released, the dog, Joker, lunged and bit Battishill in the hand, making him drop the sword so the officer could tackle him.

Battishill was taken to the hospital to be treated for the dog bites.

While there, he continued to yell at medical staff and hospital security.
The two police officers waited outside the treatment room until a nurse called for help and they heard screaming. Battishill reportedly was kicking and punching — using his injured hand since that was not handcuffed.

A hospital security guard and a police officer were punched in the eye, a guard was struck several times in the shoulder, and a cop was kicked in the hand.

Battishill stopped fighting after Tasers were applied, but he resumed fighting a few minutes later and tried to seize one officer’s gun from its holster.

LaPorte County Sheriff’s police also are investigating Battishill as a suspect in a theft and hit-and-run crash that took place shortly before Porter County police first confronted him Saturday. Battishill is accused of stealing six cartons of cigarettes from the Gallops service station on U.S. 20 at the county line, then running over a moped in the parking lot.