BEDFORD – Braxton Turpen, 18, Bedford, is facing a charge of intimidation with a deadly weapon after Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department Central Dispatch received a 911 call reporting Turpen had threatened him and his dogs with a knife.
Officer Thomas Porter and Sergeant Robin Compton responded to a home in the 9000 block of State Road 37 and were met by the 911 caller and his son. The son said he heard the dogs barking and had gone outside to investigate. That is when he noticed a man he didn’t know walking on the property with a knife in his hand.
Turpen pointed the knife toward the dogs, attempting to protect the male. The male told police he stepped between Turpen and the dogs, and that is when Turpen began swinging the knife at him and then lunged at him and the dogs with the knife. Turpen told the male he was going to kill the dogs. The man grabbed his dogs, and Turpen walked away, waving the knife in the air and cussing.
Police spoke to Turpen and found him working on a vehicle in front of a garage on his grandfather’s property. Police found the knife on the ground where Turpen was working.
Turpen told police he was working on his car with his dog when he heard growling and saw the neighbor’s dog on his property. The dog then ran home. He went to the neighbor’s home to confront them about the dog running loose and told him he would kill the dogs in front of him if they were found on his property again.
The information was forwarded to the Lawrence County Prosecutor’s Office and a warrant was issued for Turpin’s arrest.
