Local Man Arrested After Brief Standoff

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Fugitive Squad on Wednesday arrested Benjamin Jimerson, 29, following a brief standoff in which he held his two-year-old son hostage, the sheriff's office announced.

Jimerson was apprehended in the 500 block of Field Glen Court in unincorporated Stone Mountain.

When Fugitive Squad members showed up, Jimerson, who had been indicted by a grand jury on various counts, including obstruction, closed the garage and locked himself and his young son in the Field Glen Court home, the sheriff's office said. 

Negotiators spend almost an hour talking Jimerson out of the home and away from the child. He was arrested without incident and taken to the DeKalb County Jail, according to the release.

In September, a grand jury indicted Jimerson on obstruction, two counts of attempting to remove a weapon from an officer, two counts of cruelty to children in the third degree and a marijuana possession charge, the sheriff's office said.

He was originally arrested last May for the charges, which came from an altercation with a DeKalb police officer, according to the release.

The sheriff's office explained that Officer M. Morales, responding to an attempted burglary call near Pennybrook Drive, noticed a parked Dodge Magnum with the hazard lights on.

Morales stopped to investigate because of the car's proximity to the reported crime, and found two children and Jimerson’s 69-year old-grandmother inside. Morales also noticed a handgun and marijuana in the car, the sheriff's office reported.

Morales questioned Jimerson when he appeared from the nearby wood line, and the officer stopped Jimerson when he attempted to head back to his car. A struggle followed, and Morales used his TASER on Jimerson "several times" as Jimerson attempted to fight to take the weapon, according to the sheriff's office.

DeKalb police Sergeant Shover came to the scene and used his ASP baton "in an effort to gain compliance from Jimerson," said the sheriff's office, which also said Jimerson tried to take this weapon.

The press release states that Jimerson was eventually apprehended by the officers and taken to the DeKalb County Jail along with his grandmother. Both later bonded out, the sheriff's office said.

Jimerson was released on a $33,000 bond.

The indictment came after Jimerson failed to appear to answer the charges against him on Dec. 27.