West Virginia Deputy Shares Photos of Injuries From Struggle With Suspect

A Brooke County, West Virginia Sheriff's deputy who was beaten in a struggle with a suspect posted photos of her injuries and an account of the incident to Facebook which has since gone viral.

Deputy Kristen Richmond was one of two officers who was injured while responding to a call for a man bleeding and throwing things out of a third floor window at a Bethany College dormitory early Friday morning, according to The Intelligencer.

Richmond came away from the :full-out fight" with a broken nose, fractured sinus, busted glasses and numerous bumps and bruises.

Following the confrontation, the officer took to social media to tell her side of the story.

"While fighting with this guy, he reached for my duty weapon," Richmond wrote in the post she wrote on Facebook that had been shared more than 145,000 times by Monday morning. "Given the circumstances (full details are not being disclosed in this post), deadly force was warranted and it was probably getting close to my last resort. Thankfully, it did not reach that point."

According to a statement by Brooke County Sheriff's Capt. Darin Pizer, deputies responded to the disturbance at 2:43 a.m. Friday and found Brandon Lamar Jackson bleeding and not wearing any clothing. Richmond tried to approach Jackson to ask him what happened, but Jackson had a blank stare, was having trouble speaking and appeared to be hallucinating.

"The deputy attempted to detain the subject, who pulled away, attempted to strike the deputy in the face then began to flee on foot," Pizer wrote. "The deputy then began to pursue after the subject."

After Richmond's K-9 was deployed, the subject curled up in a corner of the exterior of one of the buildings.

Richmond's communication with other deputies had been cut off, leaving her to fight Jackson alone for about five minutes. After being told he was under arrest, the suspect then began to strike the deputy in the head and face numerous times.

K-9 Dakota was deployed again as two other deputies arrived. Jackson allegedly then bit one of the other officers and fought until the team finally finally placed him in handcuffs.

Jackson and the injured deputies were treated at Weirton Medical Center. The deputies were released, while Jackson was transferred to a hospital in Pittsburgh.

Richmond said in her Facebook post that wasn't sharing her story for "the glory," but rather as a call to other officers to be prepared for situations like the one she encountered Friday morning.