HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. – A Florida man is facing several charges after police say he assaulted an officer and bit the ear of a police service dog while naked and high on methamphetamine last week.
Donald Watts, 38, was arrested Saturday for multiple charges including simple battery, two counts of resisting an officer/ arrest and one count of aggravated battery on a service dog, inmate records online showed.
Deputies with the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office were called to a residence on SE Brawley Terrace in High Springs, just over 70 miles west of Jacksonville, Saturday morning over reports that a man, later identified as Watts, was using methamphetamine, FOX30 reported, citing an arrest report.
While on the scene, dispatch received a second call from someone in the same area reporting a strange man in his yard with a flashlight.
Deputies reported hearing “strange noises” when searching the yard and eventually located Watts, naked and covered in dirt, lying in what appeared to be a shallow body of water.
Watts’ behavior was described as manic by the two responding deputies who said he paced “back and forth laughing” while making “bird noises.”
Law enforcement officials said that Watts ran under the porch of a mobile home and when deputies tried to detain him, Watts punched one. According to the report, several attempts to use a Taser on the suspect were unsuccessful, prompting officers to wait for a K9 unit.
The two responding deputies, along with five backup deputies and a K9 handler with his dog Casper, found Watts in the woods. He was on his “hands and knees and began to growl like a dog,” FOX30 reported, citing the arrest report.
Casper was given the command to apprehend Watts but the deranged man “leaped, grabbed Casper by the head and bit Casper’s ear as he drove Casper to the ground.”
Eventually, the dog broke free and bit Watts on the head, according to the report.
Deputies were able to detain Watts and took him to the hospital before transporting him to the county jail, where he was being held on $37,000 bond.
