UPDATE: HEMET: Man who tried to stab officer with his own badge sentenced

HEMET – A Hemet area transient and convicted felon who attacked a Hemet police officer and tried to stab the official with his own badge Sept. 8, 2016, pleaded guilty Tuesday, March 7 to one misdemeanor count of resisting arrest. (Click link to read original story.)

The man, who was identified as 46-year-old, Gerald Owen Peachie, was arrested after the violent altercation with the officer, who was investigating a disturbance complaint that originated at a gas station located in the 2100 block of East Florida Avenue in Hemet.

Under a plea arrangement reached with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, in exchange for pleading guilty to the sole misdemeanor resisting arrest charge, DA officials dropped the felony charges of battery on a peace officer, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, resisting arrest with violence, a prior felony conviction enhancement, a prior state prison enhancement, and a potential second strike enhancement.

Peachie was sentenced to 10 months in county jail and three years’ probation after the plea deal was struck.

The incident began shortly after 8 a.m., when a Hemet Police Officer responded to the gas station regarding the report of a man, later identified as Peachie, who was allegedly arguing with and yelling at a cleaning crew at the location.

When the officer arrived he located Peachie sitting in a wheelchair in a parking lot adjacent to the gas station.

As the officer approached Peachie to find out his side of the story, the man suddenly leaped out of the wheelchair and viciously attacked the officer. The officer and Peachie fell to the ground during the violent and unexpected attack.

“During the physical altercation, Peachie ripped the officer’s badge off his uniform. He then grasped it so that the approximately three inch steel pin portion of the badge was positioned between his knuckles,” Hemet Police Lieutenant Eddie Pust explained at the time. “Peachie then swung at the officer with the badge pin as a weapon.”

The officer was able to fight his way away from Peachie and create enough distance between them so he could deploy his baton. The officer was eventually able to subdue Peachie and take him into custody. Both the officer and Peachie sustained minor injuries during the arrest.

An online Riverside County Superior Courts records search revealed Peachie has prior arrests in Riverside County for resisting arrest with violence, battery, and resisting arrest in 2008 as well as theft-related charges in 1996.

 

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Trevor Montgomery spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg in an off-duty accident.

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including the Robert Presley Detention Center, the Southwest Station in Temecula, the Hemet Station, and the Lake Elsinore Station, along with many other locations.