DUI Suspect Breaks Small Table over the Back of Arresting Officer
Keith Vincent Stout, 52, was arrested for DUI on Christmas Day, but he is also facing second-degree assault charges because he is being accused of attacking his arresting officer. Court papers claim that when Stout was being booked on his DUI charges at the Leonardtown barrack’s troopers’ room, he broken a fan stand over the back of Sgt. Steven B. Koch. Stout admitted to drinking and driving when police stopped his van on the night of his arrest, and he also let the police know that he had formerly served as a law enforcement officer with the Department of Defense security force at Joint Base Andrews.
Stout claims that he could have “lost [his] life that night” and said that he was pulled out of his van, was slammed into the hood of a police cruiser, and then slammed against the back of his vehicle. He said he repeatedly asked to be taken to jail, but instead was taken to the police barrack.
Arresting trooper Eric Reuschling filed a statement which said that he had probable cause for DUI considering Stout refused a field sobriety test and an intoximeter reading when they returned to the barrack. The statement says that Stout became “more and more irate” before Koch came in to maintain the peace. The statement says that when Koch asked Reuschling a question, Stout “picked up a fan on a five-foot stand and broke the stand in half over Koch’s back.”
Stout said he was handcuffed, grabbed by his neck, and thrown across the room into a table. He said he was kicked and knocked to the floor, and kicked repeatedly before being dragged to the jail. Stout denies the alleged attack, saying, “How did I assault somebody while I was handcuffed? I never assaulted the police officers. That fan probably got broke while they were doing what they wanted to do to me behind that door.”
Stout will be in court in March on the assault charge, and he has filed a complaint against the officers which is under investigation.
If you have been arrested for driving drunk, contact an experienced and skilled Maryland DUI attorney for legal assistance.
