Man Accused of Stabbing Mich. Police Officers, Using 1-Year-Old Son as Shield

By Cole Waterman

Source mlive.com

BAY CITY, MI — A Bay City man is facing five criminal charges for allegedly using his 1-year-old son as a human shield and stabbing two police officers as they tried to arrest him.

Bay County District Judge Timothy J. Kelly on Thursday, Dec. 12, arraigned 23-year-old Eshawn K. Langston on two counts each of assaulting police causing injury, assault with a dangerous weapon, and fourth-degree child abuse. The first two charges are four-year felonies, while the last one is a one-year misdemeanor.

Police around 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 11, went to a residence in the 1100 block of North Jackson Street to arrest Langston for violating his bond. Langston in August was charged with domestic violence against his child’s mother and was prohibited from having contact with her, a condition he violated earlier that day, court files state.

They found Langston seated in the driver’s seat of a locked silver Jeep with his 1-year-old son in the passenger seat, reports state.

Officers told Langston they had probable cause he violated bond and he was under arrest. Langston refused to step outside and “was screaming and moving around in his car violently enough to shake the Jeep,” officers wrote in their reports.

Langston cursed at the officers, who told him they would break the Jeep’s windows to extract him, reports state. Langston then grabbed his son and put him on his lap. Civilian relatives stood nearby trying to deescalate the volatile situation, urging Langston to surrender or give up his son.

Officers smashed a rear passenger window. Langston began punching the window and door, “swinging his infant son around the front seat of his vehicle,” officers wrote. Langston revved the Jeep’s engine as he held his son on his lap, police reports state.

Langston put the Jeep in drive and rammed a 2002 Ford Police Interceptor, pushing it about 10 feet, reports state. An officer reached into a shattered window and tried unlocking the door, at which point Langston cursed again and told officers they would have to kill him, reports state.

An officer reached into an open passenger door, turned off the Jeep’s ignition, grabbed the baby, and passed him off to his mother who stood nearby.

Officers struggled with Langston as they pulled him from the Jeep, stunning him with a Taser at one point. Once they had him on the ground and handcuffed, two of them realized they had been wounded, according to police.

A sergeant suffered a stab wound to his lower abdomen. A patrol officer had a gash on his right thigh, which one of his peers addressed on-scene with a tourniquet.

Police found an 8-inch folding knife under Langston, their reports state. Investigators reviewed officers’ body-worn camera footage and spotted Langston holding the knife, reports state.

An officer asked Langston why he would stab his colleagues.

“Why would ya’ll do that with my kid in the car?” Langston replied, according to reports. “Eshawn was repeating that he was going to beat the case because his child was in the car during some of the incident.”

Taken to headquarters for an interview, Langston said he “blacked out” after police broke his Jeep’s window.

The two wounded officers were taken to the McLaren Bay Region hospital emergency room for treatment. They were discharged within a few hours.

The police vehicle incurred an estimated $3,358 in damage, reports state.

Langston’s criminal record includes a conviction of attempted assault on police out of Saginaw County, for which he was sentenced to six months’ probation on June 5.

Judge Kelly set Langston’s bond at $25,000 cash. Langston is to appear for a preliminary examination at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 23.

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