Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Monday, May 23, 2016
(SEYMOUR) - The number of police from various agencies nearly outnumbered the non-law enforcement personnel present Friday at the sentencing hearing for a Seymour man.
43-year-old Jeremy C. French sat in Jackson Circuit Court waiting to hear his sentence after pleading guilty to a Class B felony charge of attempted aggravated battery in connection with a night that started with drinking and ended with around 25 to 30 shots being fired at law enforcement on June 2, 2014.
"Somebody could have seriously been killed that night, and that's the nature of the circumstances of that night," Judge Richard W. Poynter said before handing French a sentence of 14 years in prison with four years suspended.
French originally had faced 11 charges, including four Class A felony counts of attempted murder and four Class B felony counts of attempted aggravated burglary, after the incident that began when Jackson County Sheriff's Department officers responded to a report of a family fight, according to the probable cause affidavit.
The incident:
Jackson County deputies had to take cover after a Seymour man opened fire on them after they responded to a report of a family fight.
According to Sheriff Michael Carothers, deputies were called to a home just after midnight that Monday in June 2014, on the south-east side of Seymour.
When deputies arrived they found a woman and her children in the yard and Jeremy French was inside the home.
As deputies approached the yard, French allegedly opened fire.
Deputies Dustin Steward and Jeff Walters and Seymour Police officer Jeremy Soliday took cover. Soliday's patrol car was peppered with bullets along with a neighboring home and a pickup truck.
Carothers says the officer did not return fire, but called for the Jackson County Emergency Response Team, which moved in with Seymour Police Department's armored vehicle. Lt. Andy Wayman was able to make contact with French, who surrendered without incident.
No one was injured during the shooting, but Officer Soliday did sustain a foot injury from landscape material as he was running to take cover.
1340 AM WBIW welcomes comments and suggestions by calling 812.277.1340 during normal business hours or by email at comments@wbiw.com
© Ad-Venture Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.