A Gary man was charged this week for starting a large brawl during a search party for a 13-year-old girl missing since Aug. 11.
Darnell Compton Jr., 31, is charged on Sept. 11 with three counts of battery, one count of strangulation and three misdemeanors.
He is not in custody, ordered held without bail.
Merrillville Police responded around 4 p.m. Aug. 24 to the 5300 block of Broadway Avenue for a large fight between several people.
Cops separated Compton and Dequan Jones, who were on the ground fighting.
Compton screamed at an officer, elbowed him, then tried to punch him as he was arrested.
Jasmine McMichael, the mother of the missing girl Ja’Niyah McMichael, said Compton showed up uninvited with several family members and wanted to take their other children with him.
He hadn’t been in their lives for about two years, she told police, according to the affidavit.
Compton started choking McMichael.
He tried to attack her again but was separated by McMichael’s aunt. Compton then put on brass knuckles and punched the other woman.
Jones, the woman’s son, started to fight Compton.
Police noted Compton appeared as if he was drinking with slurred speech and bloodshot eyes, documents show.
As he resisted arrest, cops stuck a K-9 “Blue” on Compton.
The affidavit states the dog bit Compton in the right leg, then in the left fist as he was punching the animal to get it off him.
Compton was arrested for two outstanding theft warrants.
Ja’Niyah McMichael is 4’3″, weighing 110 pounds. She was last seen near the 1900 block of Malcolm X Drive in Gary wearing a black hoodie, black pajamas and red and black Air Jordans.
Anyone with information, please call Gary Police Det. Gregory Fayson at 219-881-1229.
mcolias@post-trib.com