By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

HAHNVILLE – A routine traffic stop turned violent in St. Charles Parish Monday night after a suspect and the suspect’s pit bull attacked a sheriff’s deputy.

St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Cham–

pagne said Deputy Thomas Plaisance, 27, a four-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, suffered severe head injuries and required several stitches when Jerry Simmons, 47, allegedly disarmed and attacked the deputy after being pulled over in a traffic stop.

The incident began around 11 p.m. Monday on River Road in New Sarpy when Plaisance witnessed Simmons’s truck swerving and speeding on the road.

The deputy noticed a dog, which Champagne said appeared to be a large pit bull, unsecured in the bed of Simmons’s truck. Champagne said Plais–

ance ordered Simmons to secure the dog in the cab of the truck, and then asked him to perform a sobriety test.

According to a Sheriff’s Office release, Simmons refused to submit to the test, and the deputy attempted to place him under arrest.

“As he was being handcuffed, the suspect began to struggle and resist arrest,” said Capt. Pat Yoes, a public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office. “The deputy and the suspect began to fight, and at that point the

pit bull jumped out

of the open window

of the truck and attacked the deputy. The suspect encouraged the dog to attack.”

Yoes said Plaisance was able to fire his weapon at the dog, which then ran from the scene. He said Simmons continued to fight with the deputy and eventually gained control of the deputy’s gun. The release states the deputy was able to eject the magazine from the weapon, making it inoperable.

Champagne said as the deputy wrestled the gun away from the suspect, he was able to subdue the suspect. He said a nearby resident who heard Plaisance’s calls for help approa–

ched the scene armed with a boat paddle.

“The man hit Simmons with the paddle twice in the back,” Champagne said. “It was enough to allow the deputy to grab a Taser, which he used to further subdue Sim–

mons. That 61-year-old neighbor likely saved the deputy’s life.”

Simmons, whose address is listed at 220 Union Lane, Montz, was charged with attempted first-degree murder, resisting arrest by violence, violation of the open container law, battery of a police officer, disarming a peace officer, third offense DWI, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, simple criminal damage under $500, reckless driving, driver’s license not on person, and having an unrestrained dog. He is being held at the Nelson Coleman Correctional Facility in Killona on an $800,000 bond set by District Court Judge Robert Chaisson.