Drunken fight prompts multiple calls to police
Staff writer
Marion police and the sheriff’s office responded numerous times Monday and Tuesday before and after a fight at a house behind D&J Liquor in Marion.
Interim police chief Duane McCarty said his first encounter with Clifton Richmond, 108 N. Coble St., was after Victor Buckner had reported getting inappropriate texts and messages from Richmond. The texts were about Buckner’s wife.
McCarty went to Richmond’s house and told him to stop contacting Buckner.
“He was very inebriated,” McCarty said.
Less than 30 minutes of being told to stop, Richmond allegedly sent Buckner a threatening text. Buckner, enraged, went to Richmond’s house to confront him.
At 4:14 p.m., Richmond called dispatch to say he had a broken nose after a fight.
Buckner, still at Richmond’s house when police arrived, said Richmond had swung at him and missed, then fell down on the ground and hit his nose.
Neither man wanted to cooperate with the pressing of charges, and Richmond declined to taken to a hospital.
At 10:34 p.m., dispatchers received another call reporting that Richmond was on the ground drifting in and out of consciousness after being hit on the head with a crowbar. He also reportedly said he had suicidal thoughts.
McCarty again went to Richmond’s home, a rental house owned by Elaine Morse. There was no crowbar, but Richmond was still drunk, McCarty said.
He thought that was why Richmond was drifting in and out of awareness.
An ambulance stood by as McCarty checked Richmond.This time, Richmond agreed to be taken to the St. Luke Hospital.
Richmond told dispatchers he felt suicidal and told ambulance attendants he was thinking about hanging himself, McCarty said.
“He was pretty well intoxicated,” McCarty said. “He couldn’t stand, and he was nauseated. When he was in the hospital, he was very polite, and the nurses weren’t afraid of him.”
That wasn’t McCarty’s final encounter with him, however.
St. Luke Hospital called dispatchers at 12:43 a.m. Tuesday to say Richmond had walked away from the hospital with an IV still in his arm. He had chewed through the IV tube, McCarty said.
Sheriff’s deputies looked for Richmond but couldn’t find him.
“He was probably passed out and didn’t answer the door,” McCarty said.
Tuesday, McCarty went back to Richmond’s house to check on him but was told by a girlfriend that Richmond was working on a construction job in Peabody.
Despite Richmond’s suicidal ideation, no mental evaluation was done Monday night.
“We usually take someone into protective custody and they do a mental intake,” McCarty said. “A mental evaluation cannot be done until he sobers up.”
Police have had numerous past encounters with Richmond.
“He’s been arrested several times on theft,” McCarty said.
Court records show Richmond has been charged nine times with felonies, misdemeanors, and traffic infractions since 2003.