An inmate in the Graham County jail allegedly assaulted several detention officer last Thursday when he walked out of his cell without permission. The inmate, Michael Neely, apparently walked out of his cell without permission when a detention officer opened the pod. The detention officer told Neely to stop and return to his cell but he refused to listen and kept walking away. The detention officer reported that she told Neely to stop and come back about three times but he refused to comply and kept walking. The detention officer followed Neely repeating the commands to return to his cell but still he refused to comply.
Another detention officer deployed pepper spray on Neely, but the inmate tried to push past the officer. The officer then took Neely to the ground in an effort to restrain him and prevent him from reaching two other people who were standing behind the detention officer. Once Neely was on the ground seven other detention officers came to assist and bring Neely under control. Neely began kicking his legs and reportedly kicked on of the detention officers in the leg.
Neely continued to fight against the detention officers and refused to comply. One of the detention officers deployed a taser and gave Neely approximately two drive stuns to the lower part of his body. Neely kicked the taser out of the officer’s hand. The detention officers managed to get Neely into a restraint chair, but he managed to kick another detention officer in the process. Two detention officers were injured in the scuffle.
Neely was arrested on July 16, 2019 for domestic violence after fighting with his girlfriend in public while allegedly riding stolen bicycles.
