FROM POLICE CHIEF P.K. JOHNSON
MILLBROOK POLICE DEPARTMENT
Top Photo: Javarus Williams of Montgomery. Photo courtesy of Elmore County Jail.
On Friday, August 13, 2021, Millbrook police officers stopped a 2011 Cadillac Escalade for a traffic violation in the 2600 block of Main Street. While conducting an interview with the vehicle’s driver, the officer detected a strong odor of what he believed to be marijuana coming from the vehicle’s interior.
The officer requested assistance and continued his investigation. Once an assisting unit arrived both of the occupants were advised of the officer’s suspicions and asked to step out of the vehicle. The vehicle’s driver complied. The passenger refused repeated commands to exit the vehicle. When officers attempted to remove the individual, he slammed the vehicle’s passenger door, locking the door.
At that point the passenger attempted to move into the driver’s seat and leave the scene, all the while ignoring officers repeated commands to exit. The subject actively resisted officer’s efforts to take him into custody.
Officers deployed a Taser, which failed to end the subject’s efforts to escape. The suspect suddenly exited the vehicle and fled on foot behind several businesses and into a heavily wooded area. The suspect appeared to be in possession of a handgun as he fled the scene.
Responding officers quickly established a perimeter, effectively preventing the suspect from entering the adjacent neighborhood. After several minutes in the woods and learning that the Department of Corrections K-9 Unit was summoned to the scene to assist, the subject exited the woods and surrendered to police officers, who took him into custody without incident.
A search of the vehicle revealed an amount of a plant material believed to be marijuana, as well as two handguns. The suspect, later identified as Jarvarus R. Williams, a 31-year-old Montgomery resident, was placed under arrest, being charged with Unlawful Possession of Marijuana 1st Degree, Certain Persons Forbidden to Possess a Firearm, Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Obstruction of a Governmental Operation, Resisting Arrest and Attempting to Elude Law Enforcement.
The driver, identified as Arielle C. Glanton, a 30year-old Montgomery resident was charged with Obstruction of a Governmental Operation. Both were transported to the Millbrook Police Department for processing. Glanton was released on bond and Williams was transported to the Elmore County Jail, where he was placed into custody under a total bond of $19,250.00.
I’m extremely proud of our officers involved in this case. They did an outstanding job preventing this situation from escalating into a much more serious situation. Their quick and decisive actions in setting up a perimeter prevented this individual from getting into a residential area and prevented a manhunt of an armed individual, who had demonstrated that he had no issues with being violent towards law enforcement.
But for their restraint and professionalism, this situation could have had an entirely different outcome. Instead, this young man went to jail tired. Other than the fact that this young man was violent towards law enforcement and was armed and in possession of firearms, I’m greatly disturbed that they had several young children in their vehicle, as this situation unfolded.
I was relieved that they were not harmed as a result of the reckless actions of this young man. I’m reasonably sure that a Judge will agree with my assessment and will want an explanation of why these two thought it was a good idea to expose these children to a situation that placed them in danger. The female is also eight-months-pregnant.
The children were turned over to a relative at the scene unharmed. I have instructed our officers to forward this information to the Department of Human Resources for further investigation. Adults can make decisions for themselves but children have to depend on adults from placing them in hazardous situation like this. This situation could have been so much worse. We’re extremely thankful that wasn’t the case.
