Suspect beats Lockhart officer with his own flashlight

LOCKHART, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - A Lockhart police officer is recovering after being beaten with his own flashlight by a person he was trying to arrest. That person fled the scene and was finally caught Friday.

While the suspect was resisting arrest he managed to get a hold of the officer's flash light and then repeatedly beat the officer over the head. "The officer didn't have any warning this was going to go bad," said Captian John Roescher with the Lockhart Police Department.

The officer was taken to a hospital. 

According to Lockhart police, the officer was checking on a suspicious person riding a bike in a Dairy Queen parking lot around 1 in the morning Friday. There he came across Gomez.

"The individual stop and interview with this subject was nothing it was a casual conversation," said Roescher. When the officer learned Gomez had a warrant, things took a drastic turn when trying to bring him in. "He actually obtained the officer's flash light and began beating him with that flash light."

Gomez's warrant was for a burglary out of Luling.

After beating the officer several times on the head he took off. "There's not someone there always backing him up but there's always someone close by so with in seconds they were on him but by this time that guy had already escaped and ran off," said Captian Roescher.

Gomez was found later in the day still in Lockhart. "Officer's went to that location, and he was arrested without incident at that point," said Captian Roescher.

Lockhart police report running into people resisting arrest can be common in the area.

"The level of that resisting seems to be different it doesn't happen on every call but it's a way of life," said Captian Roescher. While Gomez sits behind bars, the officer attacked is recovering with multiple stitches on his head.

Gomez has multiple charges including his original warrant for burglary.

His bond is set for more than $1 million.