CITIZEN STAFF REPORT

LOGAN, W.Va. — An attorney with an office in Williamson in Mingo County is facing charges in neighboring Logan County for battery on a police officer and obstructing, according to court documents.

The criminal complaint states that on Tuesday, March 28, a deputy responded to Logan Boulevard to assist the city of Logan Police officers after a two-vehicle crash and reports of a man with a firearm.

When the deputy arrived, he reported seeing an SUV in the fast lane of the southbound lanes of Logan Boulevard with a man holding his hands up, facing two approaching officers.

As the man was being detained in handcuffs, officials report Jeffery Simpkins, the attorney from Mingo County, approached officers in an “aggressive manner, cursing at the man” the officers had detained.

The deputy on scene placed himself between Simpkins and the man and told Simpkins to “return to his vehicle,” according to the criminal complaint.

Simpkins is accused of refusing commands from the officers and even reaching around the deputy, at one point hitting the deputy with a backhanded slap to the chest.

The complaint states the deputy then ordered Simpkins to turn around and go to his vehicle. It is also recorded that at that time, the deputy informed Simpkins that if he hit him again, he was going to jail.

According to the criminal complaint, Simpkins responded to the deputy by saying, “I’m a lawyer, I know what obstructing is.”

Officers stated Simpkins then returned to the area of his vehicle and lay on the ground waiting for EMS to respond.