A 28-year-old man was arrested and charged after an alleged attack on two police officers responding to a person in distress call late Monday night in Montgomery Village, Montgomery County police said Wednesday in a statement.
Michael MacCrae Shannon of Montgomery Village was charged with second-degree assault, disorderly conduct and intoxicated endangerment, according to the statement. The charges are all misdemeanors, according to digital court records.
After his arrest, Shannon was held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Boyds. According to court records, he was released Wednesday on a $5,000 unsecured personal bond after a hearing in Montgomery County District Court in Rockville.
Shannon, a veteran according to court records, is being represented by public defender Sean Mukherjee.
“The allegations in this case are a stark reminder that as a society we look to the police to address many problems that they are not best suited to handle, and that some situations call for the assistance of non-law enforcement professionals,” Mukherjee said Thursday morning in an email statement. “Mr. Shannon is of course presumed to be innocent of the charges against him, and the circumstances of this case are more nuanced than has been portrayed in charging documents.”
According to police, officers responded just before 11:45 p.m. Monday to the 7900 block of Otter Cove Court in Montgomery Village for the report of a person in distress.
A caller advised a 911 dispatcher that there was a domestic dispute at the location between a male and a female, according to police radio transmissions.
“The male is banging on the female’s window. … Apparently the male believes the female has a wallet that belongs to him,” the dispatcher said.
Upon arrival, Shannon “became aggressive” and then attacked the responding officers, according to police. “Officers were able to gain control of Shannon and take him into custody without requiring additional assistance,” the statement said.
According to charging documents, officers initially found Shannon “laying face down in the mud” with a dog leash around his neck. Officers tried to help remove the leash with another witness’s help. While taking off the leash, officers heard Shannon make suicidal statements, documents said.
Officers also noted that Shannon appeared intoxicated, charging documents stated.
Afterward, officers were attempting to talk to Shannon when Shannon “placed his left hand on the [officer’s] chest before striking the [officer] across the right side of his face,” according to the documents. The other officer then “took [Shannon] to the ground” and the two officers eventually placed him in handcuffs.
In the statement, police said one of the officers sustained a “serious injury.” The officer was transported to an area hospital for treatment and is expected to recover. The charging documents said the officer “sustained a minor injury to his left arm during the altercation.” When asked about the discrepancy in the description of the injury, police Public Information Officer Degan Bartels said in an email that it was a “serious injury because it could result in loss of duty time” for the officer.
According to charging documents, the less-injured officer sustained a “small red mark on the right side of his cheek but sustained no serious injury.”
Shannon was initially transported to the county’s central processing unit in Rockville, but “due to his level of intoxication,” he was then transported to Shady Grove Hospital in Rockville, the documents said.
According to police, Shannon was transported to the central processing unit after he was medically cleared from the hospital. Digital court records indicate Shannon is awaiting a Jan. 31 trial in Montgomery County District Court.
