A Warren County Jail inmate who injured three guards during a tussle in his cellblock has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
The inmate, Dustin Lane Couch, 28, was given a seven-year sentence by Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley on charges of aggravated assault arising from the fight with guards. He was also found guilty of delivery of meth and drunk driving, crimes for which he was being held when the incident occurred.
According to one of the victims, correction officer Mike Hill, he and other officers were conducting their routine afternoon head count when the fight broke loose.
“I entered D-80, in Pod D where inmate Dustin Couch was housed,” said Hill, noting that is when the inmate attacked him. “He started to yell and then laid his hands on me.”
Hill said he was pushed from the cell and into the cell bars. He yelled out for assistant corrections supervisor Scott Krofssik, who came running with his taser pulled out ready to tase the inmate. However, Hill was able to hit Krofssik in the head and the men went to the ground. Corrections officer David Rodriguez joined the fight and caught an elbow to the forehead for his trouble. The three men were able to bring Couch under control and place him in handcuffs following the fight.
Krofssik suffered injuries to his forearm and hands and was taken to Saint Thomas River Park Hospital for treatment. Rodriguez ended up with a lump over his eye from the elbow strike while Hill suffered a knot on his forearm and an injured knee.
It has not been revealed why Couch turned violent.