Woman arrested for assaulting VW officer

VW independent staff

A Van Wert woman is facing a felony charge of assaulting a police officer, in connection with an incident that occurred Monday evening.

According to a police report, Latricia Darst, 34, went to the police station to report a domestic incident, but she refused to talk to the first officer who tried to help her. As she sat and waited on the supervisor to come out, she became upset and left screaming at the officers as she exited the police station. She was warned for disorderly conduct for her behavior.

Due to calls about a disturbance at her N. Cherry St. residence, officers responded. Darst drove up and continued to scream and curse at the officers. An officer went to arrest Darst and she pushed him, then continued to resist arrest and punched an officer in the face. He was treated at the scene.

In addition to assaulting a police officer, a fourth degree felony, Darst  was arrested for OVI, and was taken to the Van Wert County Correctional Facility and was later freed on $2,500 bond. Other charges may be filed after a review by the Prosecutor’s Office.

The Van Wert Sheriff’s Office and the Highway patrol responded to help in this incident, and Chief Doug Weigle thanked both departments for their response.