What started as an investigation after two people were suspected of stealing a bottle of alcohol from a store led to several passers-by helping police track the men through downtown Franklin.
Two people were arrested, and one of them faces a charge of battery against police after throwing two shoes at an officer, according to a Franklin police report. That suspect, Caleb Blackwell, 21, 101 Ridge St., Franklin, also made repeated threats against the officer, prompting the Johnson County jail staff to be notified of an unruly inmate headed their way.
Jagger A. Maupin, 20, of 900 Brookhaven Drive, Franklin was arrested on a charge of theft after the incident that started about 8:30 Tuesday night.
Witnesses who were shopping at the store or out searching for a dog helped Franklin police find the suspects, according to information in the police report.
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The manager of the Franklin CVS store, at 11 N. Morton St., and a man waiting in his vehicle while his wife shopped first suspected something was wrong when two men came into the store with bandanas around their faces, the report said.
Both initially feared the store was going to be robbed, the report said.
The manager saw one of the men point out a bottle of alcohol on a shelf, and the other man put it inside his coat jacket, the report said. One of them ran out of the store, and the other man told the manager he hadn’t done anything wrong and left as she called police, the report said.
The witness in the parking lot had tried to call 911, but his phone died. When his wife returned, they followed the suspects and were able to tell police what house they had gone to, the report said. The residents of the home confirmed that two men had come there, but they didn’t know who they were and had told them to leave, police said.
Another man out searching for his missing dog told police about some suspicious behavior with a man coming out of another home and throwing a jacket into the street, the report said, noting that he knew that police were searching for someone.
Police found and arrested the men a few minutes later. Maupin had to be restrained twice when he wouldn’t follow police orders.
Blackwell threw both of his shoes at a police officer, hitting him in the knee, the report said. On the way to the jail, he repeatedly called the officer names and said that things would be different if he wasn’t in handcuffs, mentioning that he could take the officer out and that he was going to take action when the officer took his seat belt off, the report said.
He stopped his behavior when they arrived at the jail. Blackwell and Maupin were each held at the jail on $1,000 bond.
