Inmate allegedly uses bookshelf to assault Scott County officer

A Scott County Jail inmate was waiting for his arraignment in the law library Wednesday when he allegedly used a bookshelf to assault a Scott County Sheriff’s Department officer.

Jeffrey Allen Bunch Jr., 28, of Benton, Missouri, was charged with felony assault on a law-enforcement officer and armed criminal action. An arrest warrant was filed Thursday with a bond of $25,000 to run concurrent with the bond for his other charges.

As Bunch was leaving the law library, he began to yell and punched a bookshelf with his right hand, according to a probable-cause statement from Scott County Sheriff’s Department.

The sheriff’s officer tried to reach out and restrain Bunch, but Bunch grabbed the bookshelf with both hands and pushed it into the right side of the deputy, according to the statement. The officer tried to block the bookshelf with his right hand and suffered a 2-inch cut.

Bunch ran out of the law library toward another part of the jail, and a corrections officer used a Taser in the middle of Bunch’s back, according to the statement. The officer hit by the bookshelf restrained Bunch after a short struggle, and Bunch was taken back to his cell, according to the statement.

Bunch originally was arrested Feb. 20 and charged with felony counts of tampering with a motor vehicle, burglary, theft, theft of a credit device and theft of a controlled substance.

The deputy who was struck by the bookcase wrote the probable-cause statement. His name was redacted from the document.

bkleine@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

131 S. New Madrid St., Benton, Mo.