COURTLAND—A judge on Tuesday threw out one charge but refused to strike three others against a man accused of injuring a Franklin policeman when he dragged the officer alongside his car while driving away from a convenience store.

Southampton County Circuit Court Judge Westbrook J. Parker agreed with a defense attorney that the evidence was insufficient to convict Armondo Thomas Hicks of kidnapping as a result of the incident.

Parker was unwilling, however, to strike down felony charges of attempted malicious bodily injury of a law enforcement officer, possession of cocaine and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

The trial on those three charges continues today in Southampton’s Circuit Court.

When court recessed Tuesday evening, Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Cooke had rested his case, and the court had just heard testimony from the first of several witnesses expected to testify on Hicks’ behalf.

The defense did not dispute testimony that Hicks, now 31, was driving the rented Dodge Neon that dragged Officer C.A. Feller across the road and into a curb on Dec. 23, 2006.

Fellers testified that he had walked up from behind the car as it was parked outside of Deli Express at the corner of Elm and Pretlow streets that evening.

“That’s one of our hot spots for crime in the city,” he said. He and an officer he had been training that night stopped there to disperse a crowd they had seen milling about the parking lot, he said.

Fellers testified that as he and his trainee approached the vehicle, the crowd split up, with about seven going into the store and another six or seven crossing the street.

Coming up to the car on the driver’s side from the rear, Fellers said, he saw the driver doing something with his hands cupped in front of him. He shone a flashlight inside the car and saw Hicks working on what looked like a “blunt,” a cigar that is hollowed out and then filled with marijuana, he told the court.

Fellers said he opened the driver’s door, announced that he was a police officer and reached into the car to remove the suspect, who then put his car in gear and took off.

Fellers’ arm got caught in the seat belt and he was dragged along until the car jumped a curb at the corner of Elm and Chestnut streets.

He testified that he saw the curb approaching and lifted his head and shoulder in time to avoid them getting hit. Still, he was flown by helicopter to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where he was treated for a road rash on his calf and a large bruise on his hip and leg. He said he now has a tender scar on his calf and frequent pain in his hip.

Hicks continued through a chain-link fence after Fellers broke loose of the car. Fellers testified that he then saw reverse lights and rolled out of the way of the car’s path. An inmate at Western Tidewater Regional Jail said that when Hicks was brought to the jail, he had bragged about trying to run over a police officer.

But another witness, Anna Twine, said she was outside the Deli Express at the time of the incident and never saw reverse lights.

After driving through the fence, Hicks headed north through the neighborhood, running a stop sign in front of Franklin Police Officer Keith Rose, who had just heard an “officer down” notice on his radio, Rose testified. After he got behind the vehicle, Rose got a description of the suspect’s car, noted that it matched and turned on his emergency lights.

The vehicle finally stopped on Bruce Street, and Hicks emerged and ran away. Rose said he did not give chase, because he saw that there was still a passenger in the car. That passenger turned out to be Hicks’ wife.

A tracking dog from Suffolk was called to the scene and led police to a stop sign on a corner outside the home of Hicks’ mother, Detective Frank Justus testified. Hicks, however, was not found and stayed on the run until he turned himself in to police Jan. 29, 2007.

When they searched the car, police found a folded $5 bill with cocaine inside of it, a new set of digital scales, a bank card in Hicks’ name and a blunt wrapper. They also found a loaded 9 mm handgun in the trunk.

Hicks originally was charged with attempted capital murder of a police officer, but prosecutors reduced that charge in court on Tuesday to attempted malicious maiming of a police officer.

If convicted of that offense, he could be imprisoned for between five and 30 years and fined up to $100,000.