Joshua Andrew Duncan.A Catoosa County deputy facing an armed man got the drop on the suspect, pulling him to the ground and sliding his thumb against the cocked hammer of the suspect's gun to stop it from going off, according to an incident report.
The Nov. 2 confrontation started as a traffic stop, when Deputy Aaron Thomas saw a Ford F-150 with a light out on Lakeview Drive in Rossville and pulled the driver over.
At the parking lot of a Mapco, across from Lake Winnepesaukah Amusement Park, Thomas ran the driver's licenses of the three people in the truck, noticing that Joshua Andrew Duncan was wanted for probation violation and failure to appear.
When Thomas asked him to get out of the truck, Duncan ran away. Thomas chased. Duncan pulled out a handgun.
The report said Duncan yelled "Stay back!" at the deputy and, "Don't make me do it! I'm not going back to jail!"
Thomas drew his own weapon and pointed it at Duncan, who turned his own gun up under his chin and asked Thomas to shoot him. Duncan walked backwards, toward a house, and ignored Thomas' orders to drop his gun.
Then, as the two moved behind the house, Duncan turned around. That's when Thomas grabbed him, pulled him to the ground and wrestled with him for Duncan's gun.
That's when Fort Oglethorpe Police officer James Davis arrived. The report said he saw Duncan resisting arrest and "struck the offender twice in the head." Thomas used his Taser on Duncan as well.
Duncan finally dropped his gun and was arrested. He was checked out at Hamilton Medical Center and then booked into the Catoosa County Jail.
In addition to failure to appear and probation violation, the sheriff's office charged Duncan with aggravated assault, obstruction of officers, reckless conduct, possession of a firearm in the commission of a crime and possession of marijuana.
A search of the truck later turned up methamphetamine, and the sheriff's office charged the two people traveling with Duncan with possession.