A Gaithersburg man is facing up to 49 years in prison after he was convicted of assaulting three Montgomery County police officers in June 2023, according to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Jermaine Palmer, 36, was found guilty by a jury Monday in Montgomery County Circuit Court on charges of first-degree assault, second-degree assault on law enforcement, second-degree assault, resisting arrest and possession of a controlled dangerous substance. Palmer is being held without bond at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Boyds and is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 6.
Public defender Meghan Ellis Brennan, Palmer’s attorney, told MoCo360 Tuesday that she couldn’t comment on the case.
The charges stem from a June 30, 2023, incident in the 7900 block of Spiceberry Circle in Gaithersburg that began when county police responded to a report of a person spraying a fire extinguisher in the hallway of an apartment building, according to a state’s attorney’s office news release.
Charging documents state that the person allegedly spraying the fire extinguisher was shirtless and “banging” on apartment doors. Upon arrival at the scene, the responding officer encountered someone who matched the suspect’s description, but the man refused to identify himself and appeared to be under the influence of “a mind-altering substance,” charging documents state.
Palmer later left the apartment building after officers inquired if he lived there, to which he responded that he was visiting someone, documents said. Officers were then approached by a girl who told them that Palmer had gone inside her apartment after she went outside to play with friends and left the door unlocked, according to charging documents.
When the girl returned home, Palmer was inside. He asked her how old she was, and the girl told him to leave the apartment, which he eventually did, according to the documents.
Police found footprints made from the fire extinguisher chemicals inside the apartment and after learning that Palmer had been inside, officers circulated in the area around the apartment building and located him nearby. According to charging documents, Palmer refused to provide his name and began to walk away from the officers. The officers attempted to block his path and told him he would be arrested if he failed to identify himself, the documents said.
Palmer then ran towards one of the officers and punched him in the face, causing the officer to fall backward and hit his head on the pavement, knocking him unconscious, charging documents state. Palmer then fled toward the Flower Hill Shopping Center on Flower Hill Way.
At the shopping center, other responding officers saw Palmer running and officers chasing him, according to the documents. Palmer continued to run after the officers ordered him to stop and went into a McDonald’s at the shopping center, documents state.
Inside the McDonald’s at 18273 Flower Hill Way, officers attempted to arrest Palmer and he resisted as they tried to put handcuffs on him, charging documents said. Palmer punched two officers in the face and fled the McDonald’s. Officers took him into custody “after a brief struggle” in the parking lot, charging documents state.
According to the charging documents, Palmer was searched after his arrest at the county’s Central Processing Unit in Rockville and a syringe and an amount of what officers suspected was crack cocaine was found in Palmer’s pants pockets.