VALDOSTA —
An off-duty officer injured during a weekend shoplifting arrest suffered multiple fractures to an ankle and will be on crutches for an estimated four months.
Alvin May was off-duty Saturday afternoon when he offered to help an Inner Perimeter Road Walmart security employee with a shoplifting arrest, Valdosta Police Cmdr. Brian Childress said Tuesday.
“Lots of folks would have just walked on,” Childress said of the off-duty officer helping the Walmart security person, “but Alvin May in our book is a hero. He is an example of what law-enforcement is about and should be about.”
May had finished shopping with his wife and their young child. He saw the Walmart employee confronting a man accused of shoplifting a video-game item. May offered to help the Walmart employee. The off-duty police officer talked the suspect back into the store’s security area near the right-side Walmart entrance, Childress said.
As reported in
Sunday’s edition of The Times, a uniformed Valdosta police officer arrived. Police and store security discovered video-game equipment and a kitchen knife on the suspect. Police attempted to handcuff the suspect, who resisted. His struggle with the uniformed officer and May burst through the security room door into the Walmart entranceway.
The officers wrestled on the floor with the suspect as Walmart security personnel asked customers to clear the area. His shirt coming off, the suspect began tearing free of the officers. The police officer pepper-sprayed the suspect who continued to rise, his pants falling around his ankles.
Breaking free from the officers, the suspect stomped May’s ankle. May felt something pop in his leg. The suspect tried fleeing with his pants down. The uniformed officer grabbed him. Their struggle continued into the parking lot as a second uniformed officer helped subdue and handcuff the suspect.
The suspect struggled again as officers tried placing him in the back of a patrol car. Three uniformed officers were needed to place the suspect in the car.
On the way to the Lowndes County Jail, the suspect kicked out the patrol car window and escaped the vehicle. With help from a Lowndes County sheriff’s deputy, authorities soon had the suspect back in custody by using a taser.
Spencer Lamar Lonon, 18, is charged with theft by shoplifting, aggravated battery, multiple counts of felony obstruction of a police officer, simple battery, and criminal damage to government property, Childress said.
Meanwhile, May was on the floor between the two outer entrance doors of the Walmart. His leg hurt and he felt the stinging after effects of the pepper spray.
His wife and child were inside the Walmart. Waiting for the arrival of an ambulance, May asked a friend to let his wife and child know he was going to be all right. At this time, the entranceway had been blocked off but was still filled with pepper spray.
Childress said Tuesday that May suffered multiple fractures and the injury may require surgery. He is using crutches and may be on them for an estimated four months. May also faces long-term effects of arthritis from the injury.
“It will be a while before he can return to full duty,” the police commander said.
May has been with the VPD since September 2002 and is currently assigned to the department’s traffic unit, as well as the H.E.A.T. unit. May is certified in DUI detection and certified as a drug-recognition expert.
Childress emphasized that May was not officially on duty Saturday when he offered his help. He may have gone to Walmart as a husband and father shopping but he left the store as a police officer who did his job.
Local News
Related Photos
-
The off-duty police officer talked the suspect back into the store’s security area near the right-side Walmart entrance. Metro Creative Graphics
Discussion
Off-duty cop faces months of recovery
Injured in Walmart case
- Local News
-
-
VDT Weekend Update
News Reporter Caitlin Barker speaks to Bernard Bulemu and Eric Mathis, representatives from the South Georgia Regional Library about their summer programs for kids, teens and adults during the month of June, as well as lists fun summer camps taking place in the Valdosta area.
-
Troopers prepare for Memorial Day traffic
Georgia State troopers are preparing for patrols during the peak travel times this coming holiday weekend.
-
Blaze damages cars, blocks I-75
A tractor-trailer transporting automobiles northbound on Interstate 75 Thursday morning caught fire just north of exit 5 in Lake Park.
-
VECA recognized at VSU
Rising juniors from the Valdosta Early College Academy (VECA) were recognized at Valdosta State University Wednesday night as the first group of students to begin earning college credit while still in high school.
-
Businesses raise funds for Oklahoma disaster
By now, we’ve all heard about the tragedy in Moore, Okla., a mile-wide, F5 tornado with winds of more than 200 miles per hour carved through 17 miles over a span of 50 minutes on Monday afternoon.
-
Southwestern State Hospital to close
One of Thomas County’s largest employers — at more than 700 people — and a longtime regional state mental hospital will close Dec. 31.
-
Search for survivors continues
Helmeted rescue workers raced Tuesday to complete the search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared lots down to bare red earth and claimed 24 lives, including those of nine children.
-
Curator offers arts a helping hand
If you’ve been to the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts in the past four years, you have seen the quiet art of Bill Shenton.
-
Albino gators visit Wild Adventures
Two rare albino American alligators have joined the other gators at Wild Adventures for the summer.
-
Officers wound man in shootout
A Lanier County man was wounded Saturday during an exchange of gunfire with lawmen, according to a Lanier County Sheriff’s Office press release.
- More Local News Headlines
-
