Bound over to grand jury

NEWTON FALLS

All five cases against Martin Higinbotham, charged with kicking suspected fentanyl into the faces of two deputies, have been bound over to a Trumbull County grand jury. Higinbotham, 47, of Anaheim, Calif., appeared Tuesday in Newton Falls Municipal Court and waived having a preliminary hearing. He remains free on bond.

The charges against him are three counts of assault on a police officer, two of possessing drug paraphernalia, one of tampering with evidence, one of drug abuse and one of disorderly conduct during an emergency.

Deputies were called to the Blue Manor mobile-home park on King’s Drive in Newton Township on Jan. 18 for Higinbotham’s drug overdose when Higinbotham was revived with naloxone and kicked a table near the deputies, kicking suspected fentanyl into the deputies’ faces.

The two exposed were decontaminated and taken to the hospital for evaluation along with the deputy who drove them there.