Hearing held for Jackson woman subdued by police officer

A Jackson police officer responding to a call of a dog nuisance testified he forced his way into a woman's home and Tasered her because of threats she had made and her erratic behavior.

During a preliminary hearing for Tracy Mayfield, 37, of 611 W. Washington St. in Jackson, police officer Ed Moore testified that the defendant was shouting obscenities from her apartment and threatened him with her own Taser.

Moore said he was ordered to enter Mayfield's home, subdued the defendant with his Taser, and subsequently found drugs.

Mayfield is charged with felony unlawful use of a weapon, possession of a controlled substance, and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting arrest and property damage.

Her attorney argued that the police had no reason to enter the apartment as she was not a threat to the officers.

Moore originally arrived at Mayfield's apartment complex on a call of a dog who was running loose in the neighborhood.

Failing to find the dog, Moore prepared to leave the apartment complex parking lot when he noticed a trail of debris leading to a specific apartment door. He knocked on the apartment, intending to ask the resident to pick up the trash if it was his or hers.

Mayfield answered the door "absolutely irate" and began screaming obscenities at the officer through a glass door, Moore testified.

She then left from the door and returned twice, once with a stun gun she threatened to use and the second time with a three-inch knife from a bottle opener, Moore said.

The defendant then began to undress and struck the glass door with a sex toy, the officer testified.

"I've never seen anything like it before. I thought she lost it," Moore said, adding he believed Mayfield to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Moore said he was advised by his superiors to enter the apartment with another officer who arrived as backup.

After kicking in the front door, Moore said he held one hand out to guard against a pit bull in the home and with the other fired a Taser at Mayfield.

Reports of threats

After she was Tasered, Mayfield was described as calm and cooperative and told the officers when asked that there were drugs in the apartment.

Officers found a white powdery substance with a razor blade, four yellow pills and seven green pills, Moore said.

A criminal complaint filed in the case identified the pills as Klonopin, an anti-anxiety medication, and Librax, a medication for the treating of peptic ulcer disease. Both are prescription drugs.

The possession of a controlled substance charge was pending lab reports to verify what they were, assistant prosecuting attorney Brent Nelson said.

During cross examination, Moore said he did not contact the building's owner about the debris and did not hear Mayfield causing any disturbance until he knocked on her door.

"At no point was any police officer in danger," Mayfield's private attorney Stephen Wilson said in a telephone interview. "She just wanted them to leave and it escalated because they [the police officers] did not like the way she was acting."

When asked why the officers entered the apartment, Moore said it was because the police thought that the defendant was a danger to herself and others in the complex, Moore said.

"At no time was I going to leave that scene with someone that irate," Moore said.

The complex was not evacuated, and Mayfield never put a knife to herself, he added.

Wilson would not comment on whether he would request a psychiatric evaluation for the defendant.

Following the preliminary hearing, Associate Circuit Judge Gary Kamp continued the case to 9 a.m. Feb. 9.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127