An officer of the Perry Police Department sustained cuts and bruises in detaining the Oelwein woman who sought to flee from officers early Monday and was tasered into compliance.
The incident began about 1:45 a.m. Monday when a patrolling officer of the Perry Police Department saw two suspicious persons — one female and one male — in the alley behind the Wells Fargo bank in the 1200 block of First Avenue.
According to court records, the officer attempted to make contact with the pair, and the female “ran from police officers and threw a loaded syringe on the ground.”
A second police officer arrived and pursued the fleeing suspect on foot.
“Once I was able to grasp the defendant’s arm,” the female officer alleged in a criminal complaint filed in the case, “she began to actively resist me by pulling away. I got the defendant to the ground, and she continued to resist arrest, and in doing so she pulled my body camera off, attempted to grab near my belt, and in the struggle I sustained numerous superficial scrapes and bruises to my forearms, elbows and hands.”
Along with injuries to the officer’s person, property damage also allegedly occurred during the struggle, including scratches to the screen of the officer’s Apple iPhone wrist watch and a broken bumper on a nearby vehicle.
As a result of the scuffle, Breeya Lynn Moritz, 18, of Oelwein was charged with first-offense possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, public intoxication, fourth-degree criminal mischief and interference with official acts causing bodily injury.
A Taser was deployed in order to subdue Moritz, according to a Perry Police Department spokesperson. The Dallas County EMS was paged to the scene in order to remove the prongs of the Taser and to assess Moritz’s condition.
Moritz “was eventually placed in double-locked handcuffs and resisted going into the squad car,” according to court records. She was later transported from the Perry Police Department to the Dallas County Hospital by the Dallas County EMS.
Tests performed at the hospital showed Moritz “had methamphetamine and THC in her system,” and her “arm showed injection sites,” according to court records.
In the criminal complaint, the police officer said Moritz’s actions were “not the common actions taken by someone with a sober thought process.”
A 17-year-old male from Perry was also issued a citation for curfew violation in connection with the incident.
The Dallas County Sheriff’s office assisted in the arrest.
Moritz is held in the Dallas County Jail on a $5,600 cash or surety bond. She is scheduled to appear in Dallas County District Court Sept. 5.
Moritz was convicted in Buchanan County District Court in June of possession of drug paraphernalia. She was arrested by the Perry Police Department July 14 on charges of first-offense possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and public intoxication.
*A criminal charge is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
