WESTOVER — A Morgantown man was arrested Tuesday after an altercation with officers from the Westover Police Department at a church on Fairmont Road.
At approximately 10:51 a.m., officers were dispatched to a man who was acting strangely inside Kingdom Church on Fairmont Road in Westover, a criminal complaint said.
When they arrived at the church, officers said they were met by church staff who told officers that Christopher G. Calvert, 41, of Morgantown “was acting erratically and refusing to leave the stage area of the church.”
Officers wrote in the complaint that they saw Calvert — shirtless — on the stage, speaking into a microphone.
When officers attempted to calm Calvert and get him to leave the stage he refused, telling the officers to “stop talking to him and to go sit down.”
According to the complaint, Calvert appeared to be under the influence and spoke into the microphone, “telling the Lord that the officer was going to shoot himself with his own gun.”
Officers said they then told Calvert he was going to be detained for his own safety and the safety of others present. They began to place Calvert into handcuffs and he began actively resisting them.
While attempting to gain control of Calvert, the officers deployed both a taser and pepper spray, neither was effective and Calvert continued to resist officers. During the struggle, both officers were struck by Calvert, the complaint states.
After the struggle, Calvert was detained by the officers and taken by emergency medical services to J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital for medical treatment and evaluation.
It is unknown if either of the officers were injured during the struggle.
Calvert was charged with two counts of battery on a government employee, obstructing officers and disorderly conduct. He was released on $1,600 personal recognizance bond.
