Man arrested in assault of Hillsborough police officer at Sheetz gas station
HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A day after a Hillsborough police officer was injured trying to stop a beer thief from getting away at a Sheetz gas station, police took a suspect into custody.
Frederick Jermaine Pullen Jr., 49, of Morrisville, was arrested at his home Thursday about 1:30 p.m., Hillsborough Police said.
The incident happened Wednesday afternoon when a man was grabbing cases of beer and putting them in his idling vehicle, then going back in for more at the Sheetz on NC Highway 86.
An officer to responded to the larceny call tried to stop the suspect as he tried to back out of a parking space. As the officer attempted to remove the driver from the vehicle, the man put the vehicle in drive, dragging the officer and leaving him with minor injuries.
The officer was treated at UNC Hospitals Hillsborough Campus and later released.
Pullen faces several charges including felony assault on a law enforcement officer, felony resisting a public officer resulting in serious injury, possession of a firearm by a felon, and two misdemeanor counts of injury to personal property.
Police said Pullen also had six active warrants for arrest and two orders for arrest from unrelated incidents in Durham.
He was being held at the Orange County Detention Center without bond.
"It's a hard thing to deal with, and you'll never get used to it," Maj. Andy Simmons with Hillsborough Police said. "If you do get used to it, it's probably time to seek another profession because you never want to hear that about somebody that you care about.
"Always be aware of your surroundings, especially at places like convenience stores, because you never know who's there at what time and what they're doing," Simmons said. "And this guy obviously isn't a good dude and he was there, you know, today at 2:15 in the afternoon, stealing as much beer as he could possibly get."
North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement, the Durham County Sheriff's Office, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation assisted in identifying and arresting the suspect.
It's the second disturbing incident in recent weeks involving a police officer at a Sheetz gas station in central North Carolina. On Dec. 30, Greensboro Police Sgt. Philip Dale Nix was shot multiple times and later died while trying to stop a crime at a Sheetz on Sandy Ridge Road.
Nix was laid to rest Thursday after a funeral service in Greensboro.
