Warren man charged in courthouse scuffle with deputies

Staff report

WARREN

Daquan R. Owens, 18, of Oak Street Southwest will be arraigned today in Warren Municipal Court on three charges in a Tuesday-morning scuffle with deputies at the Trumbull County Courthouse.

Owens has remained in the county jail since the episode.

He is charged with felony assault and misdemeanor resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

A police report says the confrontation began when a sergeant with the sheriff’s office observed Owens sprawled out on a bench in the courtroom of Judge Andrew Logan appearing to be asleep.

Owens was there for a hearing in his 2017 drug-possession case.

The sergeant told Owens he could not sleep in the courtroom and told him to sit up or he would have to sit in the hallway until his case was called.

The sergeant returned a short time later, observed Owens in the same position and asked him to leave the courtroom.

Owens told the sergeant he did not have to leave and began to disrupt the courtroom, the report says.

A couple officers escorted Owens into the hallway, where he sat on a bench. They spoke calmly for a while, but Owens later argued loudly he had done nothing wrong and alleged racism, the report says.

He was told to stand up because he was being arrested, but Owens refused.

Two deputies took him to the floor with two other deputies assisting, but he continued to resist, kicking his feet and pulling away with his arms, the report says. He was eventually taken to the jail.