Handcuffed suspect believed to be intoxicated manages to bite deputy, authorities say

A 23-year-old store clerk believed to be intoxicated bit a sheriff’s deputy on the arm during a struggle after his arrest Monday night in the San Diego suburb of Spring Valley.

The incident began shortly before 10 p.m. when customers at a gas station market on Campo Road near Bancroft Drive called 911 to report that the store’s clerk appeared to be under the influence and was threatening people with a knife, said San Diego County sheriff’s Lt. Dave Perkins.

Deputies who responded found drugs and drug paraphernalia on the clerk and determined he was under the influence of drugs, Perkins said. He was put in handcuffs and placed into a patrol car.

A deputy went to take the man out of the car for an unknown reason, Perkins said, and that’s when the deputy realized the man had slipped his handcuffs to the front of his body.

The man began fighting with the deputy and lunged at him, trying to get his gun, Perkins said. He bit the deputy on the arm during the fight.

Other deputies came to his aid and were able to control the suspect. The deputy was treated for a bite wound and some abrasions, Perkins said.

The man was booked into jail on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, attempting to take a weapon from a peace officer, resisting an executive officer and attempting to escape custody, among other charges, according to jail records.

Kucher writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com