Orange county man facing several charges after NC deputies seriously injured

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Hillsborough man made his first appearance in court on Friday after he allegedly injured three Orange County deputies on Thursday while they were trying to arrest him.

Jorge Luis Lopez-Duran, 53, is facing four charges, including assault on a law enforcement officer. He is being held on a $250,000 bond.

"The biting was so vicious that that was the problem," Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood said.

Blackwood was in the courtroom on Friday as his three deputies were recovering from injuries, including severe bite marks all over their hands, and one of them had serious injuries to the face and eye.

"This individual was on methamphetamine. We found methamphetamine on him," Blackwood said. "He was exhibiting superhuman strength, and his pain tolerance was through the roof."

Blackwood said deputies tried to taser Lopez-Duran, who was unarmed, twice, but it had little to no effect on him. He explained how the circumstances of the incident didn't lead to deputies having to use deadly force.

"It wasn't believed that deadly force was being used against us, so therefore it's difficult for us to justify that deadly force," Blackwood said. "Also, you're in close quarters with other officers ... that's not a time where deadly force is an option."

Although the incident didn't turn fatal, ABC11 discussed with Blackwood how mental health concerns tie into this.

Blackwood said in Orange County, the sheriff's office has a mental health response team, and other agencies, such as Chapel Hill Police, have crisis counselors who respond with officers to related calls.

However, in this case, using those resources would have been complicated.

"They don't work in these types of situations for a couple of reasons," Blackwood said. "One is, they don't have the authority to take people into custody. They don't have the training to take people into custody. They don't have the tools to take people into custody, nor do they have the desire to do this."

He added that there are mental health programs that do work, but when it comes to responding to emergency calls, the quicker they can get the problem stabilized, the better everybody will be.

"By and large, social workers work in clinical environments that are clean and stabilized. That's good. That's what they're supposed to do," Blackwood said. "If you listen to the radio calls that we get every day and ask yourself, who else could respond to that? But law enforcement, there ain't nobody. So again, we do the best we can with what we've got."

Lopez-Duran is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, April 21.