Whitley Deputy injured in scuffle during arrest

A Whitley County Sheriff’s Deputy was injured early Sunday after a scuffle with a man police say was armed with knives, a gun and threatened to kill residents of the home he was visiting.

Sgt. Glen Bunch, a six-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department, suffered an injured back while trying to arrest 24-year-old Javier Sanchez with the assistance with fellow officers, Deputies Alan Onkst and Ron Bowling, at 1031 Peach Lane in the Canadatown community.

According to a Sheriff’s Department news release, the Whitley County 911 Dispatch Center received a call at about 12:07 a.m. Sunday that Sanchez threatened to kill residents at the home and that he was armed with a knife and gun. Bowling said witnesses reported that Sanchez had fired shots outside of the residence before going inside and getting into a fight with his girlfriend.

When Bunch, Onkst and Bowling arrived at the home, residents stood outside screaming and waved them inside. Armed, the three officers confronted Sanchez inside the living room area near the kitchen of the home.

"He had his hands on a bar and there were two knives sitting there, one near each hand," Bowling said. "He had another knife tucked into his pants. We told him to show us his hands and get on the ground but he failed to comply."

Officers say Sanchez had his girlfriend trapped on the other side of the bar at the time and was threatening to harm her.

"He was a very serious threat," Bunch said. "It was a bad situation. He was very non-compliant."

Sanchez allegedly made a threatening move toward police. Authorities sprayed him with pepper spray and all three quickly worked to overpower him and take him into custody.

Following his arrest, authorities recovered three knives and a 32-caliber firearm.

"He said he had a bullet for everyone in the place," Bowling said. "We had to use extreme caution."

Bowling said he believes Sanchez was extremely intoxicated during the incident, but police did not charge him with any alcohol related offenses.

Sanchez faces menacing, fourth-degree assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct charges. He was set to be arraigned Tuesday in Whitley District Court in Williamsburg but wasn’t because he told Judge Jason Price he could not understand English well enough to continue with the proceeding. Price ordered Sanchez held without bail until he could be arraigned with an interpreter present.

During the Fray, Bunch suffered a back injury and was taken by Whitley County EMS to Baptist Regional Medical Center for treatment. He is home recovering and hopes to be back on the job next week.

"I’m in physical therapy and if everything goes well, I hope to be back next Tuesday," Bunch said. "I’ve had all kinds of people calling on me to check on me. It’s really nice that so many people are concerned."

Besides his six years with the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department, Bunch also worked as a K-9 Officer for the Corbin Police Department and was a Deputy with the Laurel County Sheriff’s Department.

In the aftermath of the incident, authorities are investigating whether Sanchez is a legal resident of the U.S. His arrest citation listed his address as "unknown." Bowling said police believe Sanchez is a farm worker in the county. They tried to call his employer but said the person they called simply hung up without providing any information.

"It’s a question we are wondering about," Bowling said. "He told us he is from Jellico but he had absolutely no identification on him."