MORGANTOWN — A man who allegedly fought with police on Cheat Lake while using his 7-year-old daughter as a human shield at times pleaded not guilty Monday in Monongalia County Circuit Court.
Scott Alan Shahan, 42, of Kingwood, was indicted by the May 2018 term of the Monongalia County grand jury on counts of child neglect resulting in substantial risk of injury, child abuse resulting in injury and attempting to disarm a police officer.
Shahan missed his May arraignment.
Defense attorney Lance Rollo explained to Judge Susan Tucker that his client was sent to a mental-health facility prior to his arraignment. He left that facility and went to Kentucky, where he was incarcerated. It was not clear why Shahan was detained in Kentucky.
He said the lengthy delay was due to Kentucky communicating with the mental hospital rather than West Virginia’s jail system.
Tucker asked Rollo if he planned to have Shahan’s competency evaluated and he verbally submitted a motion to have that exam done. Monongalia County Prosecutor Perri Jo DeChristopher did not object.
After Shahan’s arrest in February, he was released on $25,000 bond.
He was then arrested in Preston County for domestic assault and while being transported to his preliminary hearing for the original charges in Mon County he threatened the officers transporting him and kicked the window out of the van and escaped, The Dominion Post previously reported.
Shahan faces charges of making terroristic threats and conspiracy by an inmate in Preston County. He is being held on a $500,000 bond for that incident.
“He’s clearly a flight risk and likely to commit another crime,” Tucker said when she denied to reinstate his bond.
The Dominion Post previously reported that according to a criminal complaint, on Feb. 25, a deputy responded to a report of a prowler at a home in Lakeside Estates, where the homeowner said a man wearing only pants attempted to enter the home with a young girl who seemed distressed. A trooper from the West Virginia State Police also responded to the call.
Following the sounds of screaming, the officers found Shahan and his 7-year-old daughter about 150 yards from the shore on a floating dock Shahan had untied.
His daughter was screaming for help and saying she was cold.
Shahan repeatedly threatened to kill himself and his daughter by jumping into the lake, causing the girl to scream.
It was about 45 degrees at the time, the criminal complaint notes.
Officers worked to defuse the situation, telling Shahan that they only wanted to ensure his and his daughter’s safety and warmth.
He agreed to sit and speak with officers on the condition that he be given handcuffs so he could cuff himself to his daughter so that she couldn’t be taken from him.
The deputy told Shahan he would give him the handcuffs, with no intention of following through. That prompted Shahan to jump in the water and attempt to push the dock his daughter was on toward the deputies. It did not work and Shahan returned to making threats of suicide and harming his daughter.
With additional deputies now on scene, the officers obtained a row boat and rowed out to Shahan and his daughter.
Shahan was now completely naked and holding his daughter front of him.
A state trooper pretended to comply with Shahan’s request for handcuffs and while he was distracted a deputy rushed him and grabbed him and his daughter, pulling them down onto the dock so the girl could not be thrown in the water.
Shahan then attempted to pull his daughter from the deputy and roll into the lake while the trooper struck Shahan in the face to prevent that.
Shahan then grabbed the deputy’s pistol and attempted to remove it from its holster, before being struck again by the trooper. The trooper again struck Shahan in the face, prompting Shahan to grab the deputy by the genitals. The deputy was still using his right arm to hold onto Shahan’s daughter and used his left arm to try to choke Shahan, which Shahan tried to bite.
The trooper next used his ASP baton and stuck Shahan twice in the legs. Shahan grabbed the baton on the next strike. The trooper was able to pull the baton away from Shahan, which caused him to lose his grip on his daughter as well. The deputy then kicked Shahan into the water.
The daughter was placed in the boat and said her feet were cold and hurting her. The deputy then attempted to warm her up.
Shahan was pulled from the lake and placed under arrest.
His daughter was taken to Ruby Memorial Hospital for an evaluation.
Tweet Will Dean @WillDean_DP; wdean@domininionpost.com
