BEAN BLOSSOM — A local man faces multiple felonies for intimidation and unlawfully possessing hundreds of syringes after police responded to a violent family dispute on Homestead Road Nov. 28.
Dispatch told police that two relatives were fighting and that one of them — later identified as Joshua Huffman, 40, of Brown County — was attempting to break down a door. The other relative had pointed a gun at Huffman, according to a probable cause affidavit by Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Rogers.
While deputies were en route, dispatch reported that a shot had been fired. When police arrived, the relative said he had fired the gun in self defense over Huffman’s head.
Huffman had fled on foot. Family members told police that Huffman was being “extremely aggressive,” that he was armed with a folding knife, that he had harmed a woman at the home and that he had been threatening everyone there, the affidavit states.
When police went to look for Huffman at a camper he was staying in on the property, they reported finding syringes in the camper, but Huffman was not there. He later called a relative’s cellphone and Rogers told Huffman he needed to return to the home.
Huffman told Rogers that he had been picked up and was heading to Indianapolis, but Rogers reported hearing branches and leaves cracking and that Huffman seemed out of breath.
Chief Deputy Brad Stogsdill found himon Unity Church Road. Stogsdill reported that he exited his truck after seeing Huffman and yelled at him to stop, but Huffman began running. Stogsdill chased him while announcing he was a police officer until Huffman became stuck in a brier bush. He was then arrested. Sheriff Scott Southerland took him the Brown County jail.
The people at the home said Huffman was fighting with a woman there over money, then he threatened his relative for sticking up for the woman and asking him to leave the home.
As the fighting escalated, the relative grabbed a gun in self defense and asked Huffman to leave. He did leave after apologizing, but returned to the home and threw a brick at the relative standing in the doorway. He then came back into the house, according to the affidavit.
Huffman continued to come toward the relative with a knife in his pocket, but the relative shot the gun over his Huffman’s head to get him to leave the home.
After leaving, Huffman continued to try to get back into the house, the police report said.
The woman Huffman was arguing with initially said Huffman had beat her and threatened her with a baseball bat, but she did not want to press charges. She also said any drug paraphernalia found in Huffman’s camper, where she was staying with him, was not hers.
In the camper, police reported finding hundreds of syringes, digital scales, metal caps used to melt or burn drugs, a cotton swab with residue, forceps and tourniquets.
On Nov. 29, Huffman was charged with two counts of intimidation, Level 5 felonies; unlawful possession of a syringe, Level 6 felony; resisting law enforcement, a Class A misdemeanor; criminal mischief, a Class B misdemeanor; disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor; and possession of paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor.
