Published November 21, 2008 05:50 pm -
Third person identified in incident involving Whitfield detective
Mark Millican
A second woman has been identified in the Tuesday night incident where Whitfield County detective Dewayne Holmes was hurt while assisting Murray County deputies search for drugs.
Crystal Lavonne Osborne, 28, of 204 Chandlers Ridge in Chatsworth, was arrested Wednesday by the Dalton Police Department for failure to appear on no license and speeding charges in Dalton Municipal Court, and then felony forgery charges were filed. She remained in the Whitfield County Jail Friday. According to Murray Chief Deputy Ray Sitton, Osborne was the third person in the car that injured Holmes.
Brittney Nicole Weaver, 21, of Chatsworth. was arrested Wednesday for aggravated assault on a peace officer in the case. She was given bond and offered an opportunity to take part in the Conasauga Drug Court program in an appearance Friday before Magistrate Court Judge Dwayne Hooper at the Murray County Jail. Weaver was released into the custody of her mother after a $15,000 bond was signed.
Weaver was charged in connection with the injuring of Holmes at 500 Levi Circle near Spring Place. The driver of the car, Clifford Devin King of Pickens County, has not been found. He is also charged with aggravated assault of a peace officer.
Holmes told Weaver she had 24 hours to contact George Shirilla of the drug court program as a condition of her bond. A spokesman for the sheriff’s office said she had done that.
According to Sitton, Osborne entered the mobile home while it was being searched, and Weaver was in the back seat of the car. When Holmes went outside to question the driver of the car through the open passenger side door, the driver put the car in reverse and began to back up. Sitton said Holmes “stepped on the step plate” of the car where the door had opened and hung on while trying to reach inside the car to turn off the ignition switch.
“King was already on the edge of the driveway, and when he started to back up he hit a cedar tree and knocked the deputy off,” said Sitton. “He left the scene and a (Georgia State) trooper saw the car traveling southbound on Highway 225 South after getting a description and turned around to give chase. He ‘blue-lighted’ him but he refused to pull over. King turned east on (Highway) 136 and then crashed at Ralston’s Corner (intersection of 136 and Highway 411) after he crossed 411.”
King ran into the woods, Sitton said. He is approximately 40 and reportedly weighs between 180 and 200 pounds. He has graying hair and a mustache.
Asked if Weaver was in the car during the chase Sitton responded she was initially, but she was not in the car at the time of the crash and had evidently been dropped off somewhere.
Holmes sustained “severe trauma bruising” to his upper torso and legs, officials said, and may lose some teeth. He was released from Hamilton Medical Center early Wednesday morning. Maj. John Gibson with the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office said on Friday that Holmes was “pretty banged up” and would be recuperating at home through next week while also visiting a physician and dentist.
The resident of the mobile home where the search was made, Edgar Allaniz (no age given), is also being sought after officers found methamphetamine, pills and marijuana, said Sitton. Allaniz was not at the residence at the time of the search and the pills have not been identified, Sitton said. A description of Allaniz was not available.
A woman in court who identified herself as Weaver’s mother said her daughter “has a drug problem and will finally get the help she needs” in the drug court program.
“I feel she had no business being there (at the mobile home),” she said, “and it’s time she grows up and takes some responsibility.”
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of King or Allaniz is asked to contact the Murray County Sheriff’s Office at (706) 695-4592, the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office at (706) 278-1233 or the Georgia Bureau of Investigation at (706) 624-1424.