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- A man in Nashville was arrested after a face-mask confrontation on Sunday, WSMV-TV reported.
- Jerry Cowan, 53, is accused of stabbing someone in the altercation, police said.
- Cowan is facing aggravated assault and resisting arrest charges.
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A 53-year-old man in Nashville was arrested on suspicion of stabbing a man during a face mask dispute, and then brandishing metal baseball bats at police officers.
The man, Jerry Cowan, is facing several charges including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest, records show. Cowan was involved in an argument with a man at an apartment building on Sunday because Cowan was not wearing a face covering, Nashville’s WSMV-TV reported.
Citing a police report, the news outlet said the man accused Cowan of taking out a pocket knife, stabbing him in the arm, and also cutting his chin during the altercation. The man was able to flee to his fiance’s house to call for help.
An affidavit obtained by the Tennessean said that when local police arrived they discovered a trail of blood in a hallway and on the door of Cowan’s apartment where he lived with a roommate. When police told Cowan to come out with his hands up, he said, “officers would have to kill them and he was not going to come out,” according to the affidavit.
When the officers made their way inside his apartment, Cowan tried to hit the officers with metal baseball bats before shutting his door, the affidavit said. According to the report, the police were able to open the door, but had to use a taser on Cowan, which initially failed.
The report said police deployed the taser on Cowan several times before he was finally subdued. According to jail records and the Tennessean, Cowan's bond is set at $76,000.