PAGELAND, S.C. — A man accused of dousing a woman with cooking oil and breaking into her home was stunned with a Taser after deputies say he tried to kick out the back window of a sheriff’s cruiser.
Robert Wayne McClain, 28, of 1929 Wolf Pond Church Road near Pageland, was arrested following an Aug. 4 assault at a Philadelphia Church Road home.
Deputy Nathan Coyle and Sgt. Jimmy Coombes of the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office were called to the home around 11:50 p.m. A woman told them McClain came in through the window and started punching her in the face, according to the deputies’ incident report.
The victim said McClain “slung her around by her wrist onto a chair” and threw a bucket of cooking oil on her. She phoned a relative who called 911. McClain snatched her cellphone and ran out the back door and into the woods, the report states.
Deputies left after McClain failed to turn up during a 30-minute search of the woods. Six minutes after they drove away, Coyle and Coombes were called back to the house when the woman reported that McClain had returned, stolen her laptop and ran back into the woods.
When a 25-minute search proved fruitless, Coyle drove away with blue lights flashing while Coombes secretly stayed behind. Moments later, Coyle was called back to shine his headlights and spotlight into the woods.
After spotting McClain, deputies chased him into the brush. He evaded immediate capture but eventually emerged from the woods. Coyle wrote that McClain refused to comply with commands to get on the ground, but he was subdued and handcuffed when Coombes rushed the man with a takedown technique.
McClain was “highly intoxicated” and became loud and verbally abusive as he was taken to the patrol car, Coyle said in the report. Before they could pull away from the home, McClain allegedly began to kick the car’s back window.
McClain began kicking at Coombes, who pinned one of his legs down, according to the report. When McClain allegedly lunged at the sergeant, Coyle drive-stunned McClain with his Taser for about five seconds to subdue him.
Coyle wrote that McClain “was very verbally abusive on the ride to the jail and continued to bang his head against the cage in my patrol car.”
Deputies photographed the car window, cage and injuries to Coombes and McClain for documentation.
McClain was charged with third-degree assault and battery and petit larceny.
Coyle and Coombes recovered the victim’s cellphone and a laptop valued at $200 from McClain, according to the report.
McClain has been arrested more than a half-dozen times this year by Chesterfield County deputies and Cheraw police. On June 28, he was charged with stealing his ex-girlfriend’s pit bull from her yard.
Reports state McClain told deputies he took the dog because he believed the woman owed him money and said he planned to sell the pit bull “to a crackhead” for a price of $150.
Reach Editor Corey Friedman at 910-817-2670 and follow him on Twitter @corey_friedman.