Sunset Beach : Attack Was a Family Affair, Authorities Say

A sheriff’s deputy who tried to cite a repeat offender for a leash-law violation got into a scuffle with an entire family, including a 79-year-old woman who hit the officer with a shoe, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department said Monday.

Lt. Robert Rivas said a couple he identified as Jack Ketchum, 59, and his wife, Neill Brazelton Ketchum, 48, were arrested Sunday on charges of assault on an officer and resisting arrest near 4th Street and Pacific Coast Highway after they refused to cooperate with the deputy over the leash violation.

But the woman’s mother, 79-year-old, Perry Brazelton, was not arrested, even though she took part in pummeling the officer, Rivas said.

“The leash law was the original thing,” Rivas said. “Then he (Ketchum) resisted arrest and assaulted the officer. Then the wife also got involved in assaulting the officer and resisting him. . . .

“The mother-in-law is listed as a suspect in the incident because she was also hitting the officer with a shoe.”

“But she was not taken to the County Jail, due to her age, I’m speculating,” he said. “It will be up to the district attorney’s office to file any criminal charges against her.”