Jermaine Opie Rucker
Prince Frederick, MD – A Lusby man was indicted by a Calvert County grand jury on charges related to a June incident in which a teenage boy was assaulted, court documents stated. The accused—identified as Jermaine Opie Rucker, 40—was indicted July 18 on three counts—second-degree child abuse, second-degree assault, and resisting and interfering with an arrest. Rucker is currently incarcerated at the Calvert County Detention Center.
According to a statement of probable cause on file in District Court and submitted by Dfc. Moran of the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, on June 26 shortly before 4 a.m. the officer was dispatched to the Giant on Rousby Hall Road for a report of an assault. Police learned that the woman Rucker was living with reported the defendant assaulted her 17-year-old son. A verbal argument between Rucker and the teen erupted while the complainant was driving them and her daughter home. Rucker, who was in the front passenger seat, “turned around and from the front seat, started punching [the teen] in the face.” The vehicle stopped at Giant, where the teen got out “to get away from Rucker.”
According to the court documents the teen objected to the way Rucker was speaking to his mother.
“I observed multiple lacerations and swelling on [the teen’s] face,” Moran stated in court documents. “I observed purple bruising on the left side of [the teen’s] neck. I took photos of the injuries and called EMS [Emergency Medical Services] who arrived on the scene.” The teen refused treatment.
Moran stated his efforts to interview Rucker proved initially unsuccessful. Rucker was arrested for assault. His resistance included striking his head on the ground and “making generic threats about the officers on scene.” Rucker stated that he hit the teen several times “because he was not going to be talked to like that by that boy.” Deputies were subsequently forced to place Rucker in leg restraints before transporting him to the detention center. As he was being placed in the jail van, Rucker “made comments about what he was going to do to [the teen] when he got of jail and made vague threats,” Moran stated.
A pre-trial hearing on the state’s case against Rucker is tentatively set for Sept. 12 in Circuit Court.
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com
