A Wildwood man was arrested after scratching up a police officer during a traffic stop.
Officers had initiated a traffic stop at 11:19 a.m. Friday in the area of Orange Street and Peters Street, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department. During the traffic stop, officers detected the “clear odor of burnt marijuana emitting from the vehicle,” the report said.
When an officer tried to open a door of the vehicle, 20-year-old Jermonick Luther Jr. simultaneously reached into the vehicle and tried to remove items from it. Police ordered Luther to “get out of the car” and to “let go.” He refused to stop and officers attempted to put him into handcuffs. He struggled with police and fought being placed in handcuffs.
“The struggle as a whole left me with red marks on my face, and a small laceration on my left elbow believed to be caused by the (Luther’s) fingernails,” the officer wrote in the arrest report.
Luther was arrested on a felony charge of resisting arrest. He was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center on $500 bond.