Deputies Bitten during Kilgore Welfare Check

KILGORE — A man was arrested after two Gregg County sheriff’s deputies were bitten during a recent welfare check in Kilgore. KETK and the Longview News-Journal report 34-year-old Jesse Waylan Hardy remained jailed on $62,000 bond. He’s charged with two counts of aggravated assault against a public servant and resisting arrest, search or transport. Online jail records list Hardy as being homeless. Gregg County sheriff’s deputy Jennifer Nieves was dispatched this past Saturday afternoon to a call about a man walking in the road who appeared disoriented. Cpl. Josh Tubb, sheriff’s office spokesman, was in the area and also stopped to respond to the call near a convenience store at Texas 135 and FM 1252.

Tubb said he arrived at the scene first and tried to talk to the man but that he failed to respond to commands. Tubb said the man lunged at him and Nieves as they tried to take him into custody. Both deputies received “substantial bites,” he said. Tubb said Kilgore police and highway patrol officers later arrived to assist. Tubb, Nieves and Hardy were taken to a hospital and released the same day.