Augusta Attorney Matthew James Duncan was arrested early Thursday for felony obstruction of an officer after allegedly interfering with a traffic stop and injuring a deputy while being arrested, a report says.
Just after midnight Thursday, the 29-year-old bankruptcy attorney walked up to a traffic stop at Broad & 11th streets where a woman was undergoing sobriety tests. He yelled to the woman that she should not perform any evaluations and told the officers he was her attorney. According to a report, Deputy Donnie Chavis told the man to leave or he would be arrested. Duncan walked away, but returned again and told the woman again not to cooperate.
That is when Deputy Chavis attempted to place the man under arrest, but the attorney "snatched his hand back and stated I was not going to place him under arrest," the officer's report says.
When Duncan snatched his hand back, it caused the handcuff chain to strike the deputy's hand and reopen six stitches he had received the week before. Duncan was finally taken into custody and the officer "smelled a strong odor of alcoholic beverage from his breath" and noted slurred speech and bloodshot eyes. Duncan was transported to the Richmond County Jail on the felony charge. County records show he was convicted in 2002 of DUI.
Deputy Chavis required treatment at MCG for the injury. The entire incident was recorded on the officer's in-car video, a report says.
