By BRUCE A. FASOL

On Thursday at 7:27 p.m., West Frankfort Police received a report of a violent altercation between a man and a woman, on a parking lot behind Boomerang’s tavern.

A citizen called 911 to report the incident. The caller also provided a vehicle description and direction of travel.

Officers located the vehicle and made a stop in the 1000 block of east Main Street. The suspect fled the vehicle and was tackled by a Police officer half a block away.

Virgil O. Hammersly

According to Chief Jeff Tharp’s press release, Virgil O. Hammersly then tried to render the officer unconscious by choking. A second responding officer used a taser on Hammersly to subdue him.

Hammersly was taken to the Franklin County jail and charged with aggravated battery to a Police officer, resisting arrest and driving on a revoked license.