A father and son were arrested Sunday in connection with an assault on a Franklin County Sheriff’s deputy who stopped a pickup truck after it allegedly ran a stop sign at the end of Commercial Street in Kingfield.

Tyler Poland, 28, of Greene, was arrested and charged with assault on an officer, a Class C felony, and obstructing government administration, a Class D crime, according to a press release issued Monday by Franklin County Sheriff Scott R. Nichols.

Poland’s father, Daniel Poland, 61, also of Greene, was arrested and charged with operating under the influence and hindering apprehension.

After Deputy Andrew Morgan stopped the pickup at 1 a.m. when it ran the stop sign, he determined the driver, Daniel Poland, was intoxicated, according to Nichols. Morgan started to conduct field sobriety tests on him and another man emerged from the woods and started verbally abusing Morgan, made threatening gestures toward him and attempted to strike him. Morgan was about to use pepper spray on the man who had come out of the woods, when he stopped attacking him and ran back into the woods.

Morgan called for help. Deputy Kevin Hartley and Corporal Nate Bean arrived and started searching for the man in the woods.

Daniel Poland, who had just left the Nostalgia Tavern, which was still in view of the truck, denied knowing who the man was who ran into the woods.

“As Morgan continued to talk to Poland, the man reappeared quickly out of the woods again and attacked Morgan from behind, throwing Morgan to the ground,” the release says. “Morgan recovered and started to chase the man on foot down Main Street but stopped the pursuit, knowing the other two deputies were nearby. He alerted them and returned (to) Daniel Poland’s location and arrested him for OUI.”

Bean, Hartley and a K-9, Diesel, found the man who had eluded them hiding behind vehicles about 200 feet away. They identified him as Poland’s son, Tyler Poland.

“Deputies theorize that Tyler Poland was in a separate vehicle when he saw his father (who was driving Tyler Poland’s pickup truck) get pulled over. At that point, deputies believe Tyler Poland decided he was going to try and help his father by attacking the deputy.”

The Polands were taken to Franklin County Jail. Daniel Poland was released on $250 bail and Tyler Poland was released on $500 bail, according to Nichols.

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