AUGUSTA — A Livermore Falls man allegedly kicked one police officer in the face and another in the shin as they were trying to arrest him early Friday morning for allegedly driving drunk.
Jamahl A. Howell, 28, was arrested on charges of assaulting a police officer, operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and operating a vehicle without a license, according to Lt. Chris Read of the Augusta Police Department.
Neither officer required medical attention after the alleged assault, Read said.
Officer Sara Moynihan first spotted Howell at the Cumberland Farms convenience store on Mount Vernon Avenue shortly before 1 a.m. Friday.
Two people in the parking lot of the convenience store had seen Howell leave a vehicle and he appeared intoxicated at the time, according to Read. They reported him to police, and as Moynihan was taking their report, Howell — who had left before she arrived — reportedly pulled back into the parking lot in a vehicle, Read said.
After carrying out a field sobriety test on Howell, Moynihan handcuffed him in order to arrest him on the operating under the influence charge, Read said, but Howell resisted arrest and kicked Moynihan in the shin.
As Officer Nicholas Sterling came to Moynihan’s assistance, Howell fell to the ground and kicked Sterling in the face, Read said. Because of that second alleged kick, he was charged with assaulting a police officer.
He was taken to Kennebec County jail in Augusta and held on $5,000 bail.
That bail was lowered to $1,000 by a judge after Howell had an initial hearing Friday at the Capital Judicial Center via video link from the jail. However, Howell is also being held without bail on a charge of violating probation.
In March 2016, Howell was convicted of assault in connection with an incident on Oct. 3, 2014, in Winthrop, according to court records. He was sentenced to an initial 48 hours in jail, with the remainder of the 364-day jail sentence suspended, and one year of probation.
Charles Eichacker — 621-5642
Twitter: @ceichacker
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