Porter Springs Man Hit with Three Felony Assault Charges

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

PORTER SPRINGS – An afternoon disturbance on Monday, Sept. 24 led to the arrest of a Porter Springs man on three charges of felony assault after he learned some disturbing family history.

Laurel Joe Collie, Jr. 22, was taken into custody and charged with two counts of committing injury to the elderly and one count of assaulting a peace officer after he overheard a conversation about past sexual assaults. He was also charged with resisting arrest.

Prior to his detention, Collie flew into a rage after overhearing a pair of females talking about past sexual assaults in their family.

“The defendant (Collie) became irate, uncontrollable and then ran into the house where both of the elderly victims lived,” an affidavit of probable cause stated.

Once inside, Collie began to scream at one of the two assault victims who was seated at a kitchen table. As his fury increased, he began “… accusing the elderly male victim of the alleged sexual crimes committed in his past. The defendant then struck the elderly victim several times resulting in a laceration to the face causing the elderly male victim to bleed from his forehead,” the affidavit indicated.

While Collie was committing the assault, his mother managed to pull him away from the male victim and pushed him into a garage area, the legal document stated.

“After exiting the kitchen, the defendant slapped an elderly disabled female victim who was standing on a handicapped access ramp outside of the kitchen doorway, causing immediate visible injury to the left side of her face and also knocking her to the ground,” the affidavit stated.

Collie then ran outside where other parties tried to calm him down until law enforcement arrived. When Houston County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) Deputy Adam Simison arrived at the scene “… he observed a white male – without a shirt on – walking towards my vehicle in an aggressive manner.”

Before the HCSO deputy could question him. Collie “… began stating that he had found out that another male on the property had committed sexual crimes in the past. The defendant stated that he then walked into the residence and ‘clocked’ the male victim,” the affidavit reported.

Following Collie’s confession, Simison attempted to place Collie under arrest for the assault charges. Collie, however, informed the deputy he could not be arrested because it would be “unlawful.”

Simison, according to the affidavit, informed Collie he had just confessed to a pair of assaults. As a result, Collie began to resist arrest and struck the deputy in the face. A struggle ensued which ended when another deputy present at the location tased Collie.

Once Collie was subdued, he was transported to the Houston County jail where he was booked into custody on two charges of injury to the elderly, one count of assaulting a peace officer and one count of resisting arrest.

Under Texas law, the three assault charges are considered third degree felonies, while the resisting arrest charge is considered a Class A misdemeanor.

According to Section 12.34 of the Texas Penal Code, “An individual adjudged guilty of a felony of the third degree shall be punished by imprisonment in the institutional division for any term of not more than 10 years or less than two years. In addition to imprisonment, an individual adjudged guilty of a felony of the third degree may be punished by a fine not to exceed $10,000.”

Collie is being held at the Houston County Jail on bonds totaling $64,000.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].