A 37-year-old man faces charges of assaulting a police officer after police say he stuck a lit cigarette in an officerâs ear when the officer tried to detain him.
The incident occurred around 11 p.m., after Grand Junction police responded to a Citadel Security employee who said a man refused to leave Lincoln Park.
When officers arrived they found Randy Toney, 37, who was smoking a cigarette. He had his other hand in his pocket and refused to remove it when officers instructed him to do so, according to the arrest affidavit. Officers attempted to detain Toney for not removing his hand from his pocket, citing officer safety, when Toney reportedly struck one officer in the head and stuck the cigarette in the officerâs ear.