Man opens fire on deputies, gets Tasered
Published 12:00 am Saturday, November 3, 2007
COURTLAND—A Carrsville man is in jail after trading gunshots with a Southampton County deputy Thursday evening.
Freddie Carroll Drake, 52, of Burdette Road, was charged with discharging a firearm within a dwelling, a felony, as a result of the incident. Sheriff’s department spokesman Richard Morris said other charges are pending.
Deputy Scott Griffith responded to a 911 report of shots fired in a residence on Monroe Road near Statesville at about 6:20 p.m. Thursday.
When Griffith arrived on the scene, a shot was fired outside from within the building. The deputy took cover, and Drake emerged from the house into the yard with a shotgun aimed at him, Morris said.
Griffith returned fire and missed. Drake immediately dropped his weapon and began advancing toward the deputy, who then used his Taser to subdue the man, Morris said.
Drake was taken to Southampton Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released for cuts and abrasions he had suffered inside the house.
Morris said no one else was in the home at the time of the exchange and that there were no other injuries.
Since it was an officer-involved shooting, the incident remains under investigation, Morris said, adding that he could not remember another instance of a deputy firing his weapon at a suspect in his 15 years as a member of the department.
“We are relieved no one was injured,” he added.
Griffith has been a deputy in Southampton for about 3 1/2 years and served on police forces elsewhere before he joined the sheriff’s department, Morris said. He remains on duty during the investigation.
Drake is being held without bond in the Southampton County Jail.