Fredericksburg Police Officer Rescued By Passersby In Walmart Lot

Fredericksburg VA

22 July, 2021

3:43 PM

Description

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — A Fredericksburg man was punching a city police officer in the head Wednesday morning in a Walmart parking lot when two people came to the police officer's rescue. At about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, a Fredericksburg police officer was responding to a report of a suspicious person in the parking lot of the Walmart at 1800 Carl D. Silver Parkway. The officer found the suspect in possession of stolen items and tried to detain him. The suspect, Joshua Duggins, 31, started walking away from the officer but then turned around and started assaulting the officer, knocking him to the ground and punching him several times in the head. Two people saw what was happening and pulled Duggins off the police officer, according to the Fredericksburg Police Department. Duggins was then taken into police custody and arrested on charges of assault on law enforcement and malicious wounding. He remains jailed at the Rappahannock Regional Jail without bond. The officer, a two-year veteran of the Fredericksburg Police Department, was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for head injuries. He was released later Wednesday morning from the hospital. "If the two individuals watching nearby had not selflessly taken it upon themselves to assist the officer during the attack, the injuries he sustained could have been much more severe," Fredericksburg Police Chief Brian Layton said in a statement Thursday. "I can't thank them enough for bravely putting themselves in danger."