Brownsville police said Friday they are investigating an aggravated assault on an officer.
Police said the officer was struck in the head multiple times by a man accused of forcing his way into the apartment of his ex-wife.
Frank Avalos, 31, was arrested on Friday and will be arraigned Saturday on multiple charges, police said.
The incident happened about 2:30 p.m. after police received a 9-1-1 call from a woman who stated her ex-husband had forced his way into her apartment at 2100 Grapefruit, said Investigator Martin Sandoval, spokesman for the Brownsville Police Department.
As one officer was outside talking to the woman, who said she didn’t know if Avalos was still inside the apartment, a second officer went inside the apartment to see if he was still there, Sandoval said.
“As the officer was checking the apartment Avalos came out of hiding and struck the officer on the head three times with a vacuum cleaner,” Sandoval said. “A struggled ensued and Oleoresin Capsicum was released.”
Sandoval said it was unknown at the time who had possession of the OS spray but that the officer was sprayed in the face with it.
The officer managed to unholster his duty weapon and fired one shot. The bullet did not strike Avalos and he managed to run out the apartment, Sandoval said.
The officers set up a perimeter around the area and found Avalos hiding behind the apartment complex about 50 to 60 feet away, police said. Although an officer started issuing commands to Avalos, he refused to comply and charged at the officers, Sandoval said. An officer used a Taser Device and Avalos was taken into custody.
“He was plain angry,” Sandoval said.
Avalos was transported to the hospital for medical attention.
The unidentified officer was also transported to the hospital for treatment and was expected to be released from the hospital sometime Friday night.
