{"id":2053,"date":"2009-10-04T12:58:24","date_gmt":"2009-10-04T19:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2009\/10\/distraught-reverend-severs-deputys-hands-with-ax\/"},"modified":"2009-10-04T22:19:47","modified_gmt":"2009-10-05T05:19:47","slug":"distraught-reverend-severs-deputys-hands-with-ax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/2009\/10\/04\/distraught-reverend-severs-deputys-hands-with-ax\/","title":{"rendered":"Distraught Reverend Lops Off Deputy’s Hand With Ax"},"content":{"rendered":"

from The Arizona Republic<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Deputy’s hand, severed in attack, reattached<\/h1>\n

ASHLAND, Ala. – A deputy whose hand was chopped off by a suspect wielding a bush ax had it reattached in two operations, while the background of his attacker – a minister who was fatally shot in the confrontation – left those who knew him perplexed.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Sgt. Jason Freeman, whose hand was severed Friday, underwent surgery in Birmingham and had a pulse in all five digits of the reattached hand, Sheriff’s Capt. Steve Cotney said.<\/p>\n

The Rev. Curtis Watts, who was shot and killed by a law officer after Freeman was attacked, was described in an obituary released by a funeral home as a longtime minister who started a church and sang gospel music with his family.<\/p>\n

But authorities also knew him as potentially violent. His fatal confrontation with officers came just 10 days after his arrest on a charge involving domestic violence, according to sheriff’s officials in rural Clay County, located in east Alabama.<\/p>\n

Authorities said they were attempting to arrest Watts on a new warrant signed by a relative when he began swinging the ax and cut off Freeman’s hand. The deputy has been with the department about three years and was leading a team of deputies sent to arrest Watts.<\/p>\n

Watts was a logger and sawmill operator and worked for a cabinet company for years, according to an obituary from Benefield Funeral Home, and he became an ordained Baptist minister in 1988.<\/p>\n

Watts, 48, helped establish and build Shining Light Baptist Church. With his family, he performed as part of the Watts Family Singers.<\/p>\n

“He was a good Christian man. Something happened to him, but I don’t know what,” said James Crawford, 76, of Ashland.<\/p>\n

[ continue reading at AZCentral.com<\/a> ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

from The Arizona Republic Deputy’s hand, severed in attack, reattached ASHLAND, Ala. – A deputy whose hand was chopped off by a suspect wielding a bush ax had it reattached in two operations, while the background of his attacker – a minister who was fatally shot in the confrontation – left those who knew him […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weirdness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2053\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}