Williamsburg man arrested after pulling knife on another man at local mall

Williamsburg Police arrested Harvy Carr, above, after he allegedly attempted to attack another man with a knife at the Cumberland Regional Mall Friday.

Williamsburg Police Chief Wayne Bird is praising his officers for exercising restraint during an arrest early Friday afternoon where he says they would have been legally justified in using deadly force to subdue an elderly man, who was armed with a knife.

"He put the officers in a lethal force situation. I think Mike Taylor and Brandon Prewitt used extreme discretion because they were in a lethal force situation," Bird said. "They were justified in using deadly force and they choose not to. I commend them for that."

Williamsburg Police Detective Bobby Freeman charged Harvey J. Carr, 77, of Williamsburg, with resisting arrest, third-degree assault and four counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, and lodged him in the Whitley County Detention Center.

The incident began about 12:15 p.m. Friday when police received a call about Carr allegedly pulling a knife on a man at Cumberland Regional Mall.

The victim told police that an elderly man in a red jacket approached him, and tried to get inside his van.

The victim got out of the vehicle on the other side, and approached Carr thinking that he might be having some kind of medical emergency.

"When he went around to see what the guy was wanting, he said the guy pulled a knife and swung it at him. The victim had a small child in the vehicle with him," Bird said.

The victim was able to get back inside his vehicle and lock the doors. Then he yelled at Carr that he was going to call police, and Carr took off.

While Bird and Freeman were searching the mall for Carr, K-9 Officer Brandon Prewitt spotted him across the street from the mall outside of Smith Auto near the Ky. 92E and US25W junction.

Sgt. Mike Taylor, who was off-duty, joined Prewitt along with Williamsburg Fire Chief James Privett, who was working nearby.

"As they approached him, he immediately told the officers he wasn’t going anywhere, and he pulled a pocket knife out on them," Bird said. "Mike Taylor was able to talk him down enough to catch him off guard and the officers took him to the ground."

As police were wrestling Carr to the ground, he kicked Prewitt in the groin.

Carr apparently suffered a minor cut to one finger with his own knife as officers wrestled him to the ground.

Whitley County EMS treated Carr at the scene before he was taken to jail.

Bird said that it was very fortunate that neither Carr nor officers were seriously injured.

He said that Carr didn’t display any signs of Alzheimer’s or any signs of mental illness.

"He said he was mad about something to do with his ride. He was just mad at the world I guess," Bird added.