A Farmerville police officer has been arrested accused of trying to run his estranged wife’s car off the road and then resisting arrest when two Union Parish sheriff’s deputies tried to arrest him.
Demetrius A. Wallace, 45, of 1309 Martin Luther King Drive, Farmerville, was arrested about 1:30 p.m. Sunday and will remain jailed until a scheduled hearing Wednesday. His Gwen’s law hearing had been set for 1 p.m. Monday but was delayed until Wednesday by Third District Court Judge Jay McCallum.
Wallace is being held in the parish detention center for felony domestic abuse battery-aggravated assault, and misdemeanor counts of aggravated assault, reckless operation and resisting arrest (two counts).
In an arrest affidavit, deputies reported that Wallace’s estranged wife and a male companion were coming from Ruston on La. Hwy. 33 when they saw Wallace’s pickup truck on the side of the highway. The truck pulled out behind them and the victims reported that he was following very closely trying to get them to pull over.
They drove through town and headed west on La. Hwy. 2 and that’s when, according to the victims, Wallace pulled up beside them and tried to force them off the road. The victims ran off onto the shoulder of the road and after Wallace passed them, the wife turned around, and headed back toward Farmerville.
The arrest report states that Wallace also turned around and headed back to town and passed the victims in a curve. At that point, the victims saw the deputies coming and pulled over. Wallace then pulled up beside them but then pulled off and came back to where the deputies had approached the victims’ vehicle. The deputies had witnessed Wallace to pull off, smoking his tires on the pavement and then turning around to approach the car again.
While one of the deputies was trying to talk with the victim, Wallace reportedly ran up to the car and tried to jerk the door open. He was told to calm down and to get away, but kept trying to open the door. He had to be physically pushed away, but then ran back toward the deputies and they grabbed him. The report states that he pulled away from them and again tried getting to the car. He was then physically restrained and placed under arrest.
Wallace later told deputies that he had received a call that his estranged wife was seen in the Ruston Walmart store with another man. He admitted to deputies that he waited on La. Hwy. 33 for the pair to return, but denied trying to run them off the road.
The victims told deputies that they feared for their lives and that Wallace’s pickup nearly hit the wife’s vehicle several times.
The report states that UPSO and Farmerville police in recent weeks have received a number of calls from the estranged wife about altercations with Wallace. She stated to deputies that she is extremely frightened of Wallace because he is a police officer.
