A Martinsville police officer was arrested after employees and visitors at a Center Grove area event venue said he was waving a gun around and pointed it at one person.
Brandt Summitt, 35, of Greenwood, was arrested on a charge of resisting law enforcement and public intoxication. Police also recommended a felony charge of pointing a firearm at another person. The prosecutor will decide what, if any, charges to file.
Summitt was arrested outside of the venue, where he was seen hiding behind a tree with his gun out, and where a woman said he pointed his gun at her and told her to back off when she tried to intervene in an argument, according to the Greenwood Police Department report. When officers arrested Summitt, they found a handgun on the ground next to him that was loaded, with a bullet in the chamber, the report said.
Summitt, who has been a patrolman with the Martinsville Police Department since 2016, was placed on paid administrative leave, Martinsville Police Chief Matt Long said. Martinsville police will do an internal investigation of the incident, and Greenwood police will do the criminal investigation, and Summitt has been placed on leave during those investigations, Long said.
Greenwood police were called to the venue off Stones Crossing Road at 1:20 a.m. Saturday. Callers had reported an intoxicated man outside with a gun.
Officers found two men outside, and one of the men told police that both he and the other man were Martinsville Police Department officers and had been attending a concert and that Summitt was intoxicated. Summitt walked away from police into a wooded area, and a police dog was called to help search for him, the report said.
Police found Summitt lying on the ground nearby. He initially did not follow officer’s commands to show his hands, but eventually put his hands behind his head. Officers found pocket knives, handcuff keys, Summit’s badge and police department ID, along with ammunition when they searched him, and they founded a loaded handgun underneath the bush where he was found, the report said.
Two employees told police they saw Summitt hiding behind a tree on the property, waving a gun and pointing it toward the parking lot. A woman who was visiting the venue told police she had seen two men arguing in the parking lot, and went over to try to intervene. She said Summitt pointed a gun at her and told her to back off, and she went back to her vehicle, the report said. She said she then saw him point the gun at two other people who were with him, the report said.
The two employees left after seeing the men in the woods and calling police and then came across Summitt again near the entrance of the property. Summitt began reaching behind his back, and the employees worried he was reaching for a gun, so they drove away and called police again, the report said.
Summitt told police he did not understand his rights, and had a blood-alcohol content of nearly .24 percent, the report said.
He was arrested and taken to the Johnson County jail, where he was released on $2,200 bond.
