By Christine L. Pratt
Daily Record

WOOSTER, Ohio — A Wooster man said he was drunk and remembers little of the day he admittedly assaulted two emergency squad members transporting him to the hospital.

Dwayne Adkins, 32, of 1243 W. Pleasant Home Road, was indicted in Wayne County Common Pleas Court on two fourth-degree felony charges of assault on emergency medical workers, but he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault.

Instead of 18 months in prison on each count, Adkins faces six months in jail for each of the two counts.

Before reducing the charges, Assistant Prosecutor John Williams said he spoke with one of the Canaan Township Volunteer Fire emergency workers, neither of whom "suffered substantial harm," and indicated both men approved of the arrangement.

The squad members were called to Adkins' home by his wife after he cut himself when he put his hand through a window, Adkins said.

During the trip to Wooster Community Hospital, Adkins became combative with the men, prompting them to call for assistance from Wooster Police, said Chief Steve Glick.

Throughout the ordeal, Adkins cursed at medical workers, attempted to spit on them, punched one of the squad members in the face and bit the hand of the other, said Williams, adding one of the men is Adkins' brother-in-law.

At the hospital, police subdued Adkins with a drive stun from a Taser, but, when he continued to be combative and refused orders to comply, an emergency room physician ordered he be placed in restraints, Glick said. Medication was administered to calm him and, while at the hospital, Adkins not only threatened medical workers, but made comments about trying to hurt himself, Glick said.