Report: Calaveras County man fights deputies outside elementary school
A Calaveras County man is in custody after reportedly fighting with deputies outside an elementary school late last month.
Deputies were alerted to the presence of a suspicious person on the San Andreas Elementary School property around 11:20 AM on Monday, January 27.
The individual, later identified as 52-year-old Darren Zachary Dowling, refused to speak to them and instead ran into the nearby cemetery and tried to hide behind the grave markers.
As deputies continued to try and negotiate with Dowling, a “shelter in place” protocol was enacted at nearby Calaveras High School due to its proximity to the activity.
Meanwhile, additional deputies were called to the scene as Dowling had armed himself with a metal pipe.
When he tried to run toward the high school and two deputies had to physically stop him, Dowling became combative and began kicking, striking, and even attempting to bite.
Deputies say that after he’d been restrained, Dowling continued to violently resist while being carried to the patrol vehicle and driven to to the jail, even causing damage to the inside of the patrol car.
Once at the jail, he continued to fight and had to be carried to a solo jail cell to await evaluation.
He has ultimately been booked on two counts of physical resisting arrest, two counts of battery on a peace officer, disrupting a school, loitering where children are present, and vandalism.
