By Vanesa Brashier, editor@bluebonnetnews.com
For the third time in the last three weeks, the Liberty County Sheriff’s Special Response Team has deployed to apprehend suspects in violent criminal cases.
On Tuesday, the Special Response Team was asked to arrest an aggravated assault suspect, Jerry Dewayne Woodward, 41, at his home in the Woodway Subdivision on FM 1409 south of Dayton.
According to Investigator Steven Rasberry, Woodward is accused of assaulting a neighbor using a knife and police-style baton.
“One of the key pieces of information we received was from a witness on the scene who said that Woodward promised to retaliate and resist police. We were told by the witness that he was determined not to go back to prison,” Rasberry said.
According to Rasberry, Woodward’s alleged affiliation with a white supremacy prison gang was cause for concern. He also had outstanding warrants for theft out in Chambers County and aggravated assault in Liberty County. His criminal history also includes parole violations, and drug and alcohol-related charges.
Once a warrant was obtained for Woodward’s arrest, the Special Response Team, assisted by the East Montgomery County Special Response Team, went to Woodward’s home to arrest him.
“We got on scene and encountered one male subject, who was our target. He was a little resistant verbally, so we deployed pepperballs on him and made the arrest,” Rasberry said.
Rasberry said investigators are looking into an alleged burglary of Woodward’s home earlier this year that might have led to the aggravated assault of the neighbor.
Woodward is being held in the Liberty County Jail on a $100,000 bond.
The two previous deployments for the SRT were for the arrests of two murder suspects in Cleveland and one armed robbery suspect in Dayton.