Elbon

ELKINS — Randolph County Sheriff Rob Elbon suffered multiple injuries after attempting to detain a male individual Wednesday afternoon on Ward Road.

The sheriff, who recently broke his hand while working in his garage and is wearing a cast, was on routine patrol at the location when he came across a male subject punching a mailbox alongside the road, he said.

“I was patrolling down Ward Road and saw a pretty good-sized male beating on a mailbox,” Elbon told The Inter-Mountain on Thursday. “He was kicking it, punching it and screaming. So I pulled up beside another vehicle that was there and he started punching and kicking it.”

Elbon said he rolled down his window and asked the male to knock it off, and when he started to exit his patrol unit, the individual came at him.

“When he started coming toward me I told him that I had a broken hand and I wasn’t trying to fight him — I just wanted to talk to him and see what was wrong,” Elbon said. “A lady got out of the vehicle he punched and said that the individual was her son and he just got kicked out of school.”

Elbon said he made several attempts to talk to and calm down the male subject, who he learned was a juvenile.

“I told him I wanted to help him deal with whatever he had going on,” Elbon said. “But he didn’t want to hear any of it –  he was very irritated. So he came over and started kicking my patrol car, and when I told him to knock it off and quit, he came at me and it escalated from there.”

Elbon said the juvenile picked up a limb that had fallen off an old tree and came at him with it.

“He hit the limb on the ground and came at me and that’s when I knew I was going to go hands-on, which I didn’t want to do with a cast on my hand,” Elbon said. “I didn’t have my gun belt on, so I didn’t have my portable radio with me to call the other guys for help. So I jumped in the patrol unit to radio for help and that’s when he started kicking the side of the car and bent the door.”

Elbon said the juvenile was trying to get in the car with him when a man he called “a good samaritan” and the juvenile’s mother intervened.

“They were trying to hold him back when he was trying to get at me while I was trying to talk on the radio,” said Elbon. “I got my cuffs out and went out of the car to try to detain the subject. That’s when he started to swing, punch and kick at me again. I was able to get him in a headlock and get him down on the ground. But it took me, the juveniles’ mom, and the ‘good samaritan’ to get him down. He was a big, stout kid and he didn’t get hurt during the entire incident, which was my goal.”

Elbon said once one of his Prevention Resource Officers arrived on the scene, the situation de-escalated quickly. Deputy Rocky Hebb knew the juvenile from one of the area schools that the county’s PRO officers are stationed in.

“He was still extremely irritated when we put him in the car, but as soon as Deputy Rocky Hebb showed up, his entire demeanor changed,” Elbon said. “When Rocky (Hebb) opened the door and asked him what was going on, his whole temperament changed. It’s unbelievable the rapport our PRO officers have with these kids. If Rocky would have been there from the start I’m convinced nothing would have happened. It’s amazing how valuable our PRO program is to our kids and our schools.”

The sheriff was sent to Davis Medical Center for injured ribs and lacerations to one of his arms. Doctors x-rayed Elbon’s ribs and told him they wouldn’t be sure if they were broken or not until the swelling went down. 

The male subject was transferred to a juvenile facility, Elbon said.