March 15th, 2018 by WCBC Radio
The Office of the State’s Attorney for Allegany County, Michael Twigg, State’s Attorney, announced on Thursday, March 15, 2018, that Kenneth Wright, 42 of Cumberland, was convicted and sentenced relating to a September 19, 2017 attack on two Allegany County Sheriff’s Deputies at the Rodeway Inn in LaVale. The Honorable Jeffrey Getty, Allegany County Circuit Court Judge, sentenced Wright on two counts of assault to 20 years suspending all but 16 years, to be served in the Maryland Department of Corrections.
In the afternoon hours of September 19, 2017, Deputy Kraig Simpson and Sgt. John O’Connor, of the Allegany County Sheriff’s Office, responded to a room at the Rodeway Inn in LaVale for a reported domestic disturbance. As the officers arrived, they could hear yelling in the room, knocked on the door and announced their presence. Initially Wright, who was inside the room, refused to open the door, and eventually exited carrying a metal pipe. He immediately began striking both officers with the pipe, knocking Deputy Simpson to the ground and onto a pile of rocks. As Wright continued the attack, Deputy Simpson was able to discharge his service weapon, striking Wright three times. The shots initially did not stop the attack and Sgt. O’Connor was able to take Wright to the ground, who continued to fight and attempted to strike Sgt. O’Connor with a large rock. Eventually Wright began feeling the effects of his gunshot wounds and the attack came to an end. Maryland State Police quickly arrived on scene and began treating Wright for his injuries, and he was transported to the Western Maryland Regional Medical Center where he underwent treatment for his wounds and recovered.
The Allegany County Grand Jury was presented the case in October and elected to indict Wright, at the same time exonerating the two officers related to their use of force. They found that Deputy Simpson’s discharge of his weapon was completely justified given the nature and circumstances of the attack.
According to Assistant State’s Attorney Erich Bean, who prosecuted the case, “Mr. Wright received a just punishment for his unprovoked attack on two Allegany County Sheriff's Deputies. The State asked the Court to depart above the sentencing guidelines given the nature of the incident, and Judge Getty chose to do so. These types of assaults on law enforcement will not be tolerated in this community.”
The case was investigated by Assistant County Investigator Charles Goldstrom, with assistance from the C3I Unit. Mr. Wright was represented by David Schram of the Public Defender's Office
.jpg)
