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Couple vs. Cops — What Happened After Pair Got Bounced at The Country Club?

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Brandon Taylor Hayes Facebook An out-of-town couple is disputing deputy accounts of what happened after they got bounced early Saturday at The Country Club in Augusta.

Brandon and Taylor Hayes, of East Dublin, Ga. (pictured), were ejected from the Washington Road club around 1 a.m. Saturday and later arrested for felony obstruction after two deputies were injured.

A witness video (click here) shows a violent struggle in the parking lot with several Richmond County deputies involved. A sheriff’s report describes the young couple as uncooperative, confrontational and violent. Brandon was also charged with interference with government property for allegedly damaging a patrol car.

But 24-year-old Taylor Hayes disputes the deputies’ accounts, claiming the officers harassed them, wouldn’t let them leave and then tasered her husband when he defended her.

“I feel like we did nothing wrong,” Taylor said. “I feel like we were targeted. And I feel like the officers used me and roughed me up to antagonize my husband and upset him. And he felt like he had to defend us.”

Deputy Stephen HardenA sheriff’s report by Deputy Stephen Harden gives this account:

While working special duty, Investigator Kris Lapham and Cpl.  Brett Espinosa escorted 28-year-old Brandon Hayes out of the club after a near-altercation with another patron. While being escorted out, Brandon began to struggle with both officers.

Deputy Harden (pictured above right) followed behind the officers but was suddenly shoved from behind by Taylor. He told her not to shove him and kept walking, but she grabbed his right arm. So he extended his right arm against her left shoulder and repeated the command to back up.

“I told Taylor Hayes not to grab my arm and not to push me again, or she could face charges. Taylor Hayes then became irate and began yelling and screaming at me for ‘pushing her,'” the report says.

Deputy Harden escorted Taylor Hayes outside where her husband was arguing with the officers. Taylor then began to yell that Deputy Harden had shoved her.

“She and Brandon were both instructed to leave the property,” the report says. “Taylor would walk away a few feet, and then return and attempt to get in my face and yell at me. This occurred about three times when Brandon then picked her up and began to carry her away, to get her to leave the property. Taylor struggled free of Brandon and attempted to return to where I was standing. ”

Investigator Kris Lapham Investigator Lapham (right) then attempted to place Taylor into custody and charge her with disorderly conduct. As he was attempting to arrest her, Brandon punched Investigator Lapham near the left eye.

“I then ran to Investigator Lapham and drew my Taser and ordered Brandon to stop and get on the ground,” the report says. “Brandon grabbed at my arm, knocking my Taser out of my hand. I then attempted to gain control of Brandon, who was able to wrestle free and strike me twice with his right closed fist, once on the left side of my jaw and on the left side of my head, behind the ear.”

But Cpl. Jo Martin got the worst of it, the report says. He tried to place Brandon into custody and was punched in the face by the stocky suspect, who is 5’11” tall and 255 pounds.

Cpl. Jo MartinCpl. Martin (right photo) deployed his Taser twice, striking Brandon in the left arm with two probes and then in the lower back with two probes. Brandon was then wrestled to the ground and placed in custody, the report says.

Taylor was then placed into custody.

Cpl. Jo Martin was taken to University Hospital to receive medical attention for a possible broken jaw, a report says. Sheriff’s Lt. Allan Rollins said Wednesday that Cpl. Martin apparently didn’t suffer a broken jaw because he was back at work this week.

Hayes Her side of the story. Taylor says her husband just got a new job in Wrens and was invited to The Country Club by a few of his new co-workers. They have a 3-year-old son and rarely go out, but they agreed, putting their son with a grandparent and looking forward to the concert with singer Mark Chestnutt.

After several drinks and the concert ended, they began to dance. But her husband accidentally backed into a couple and the woman became irate, yelling that her and Brandon needed to go. That drew the attention of an officer.

What happened next startled Taylor. She says the officer pushed the other woman.

country club“He shoved her and that shocked me,” Taylor said. “I thought he was going to arrest her. It shocked me to see a man shove a woman like that. He turns around, and I thought he was going to talk to me. I said what the f*** is going on? He took kind of a forceful step and shoved the crap out of me backwards.”

Then Taylor saw two officers pushing her husband. Yes, he had been drinking, Taylor said. But everyone was bumping everyone, she said.

“They are shoving us the whole time to get us outside,” she said. “A grown man pushing a woman. They never once grabbed our arm and said, we need you to leave. They just start pushing, pushing, in a way like you are about to start a fight.”

Outside, she says she got hit a few times by deputies, giving her bruises “from head to toe.”

Taylor insists her and her husband tried to walk away from the bar and get a cab. He said officers followed them and would push them.

“We are trying to walk away for the fifth time. It’s literally like we could not walk away from the situation. They would not let us,” she said.

When her husband saw her being pushed, he fought.

HAYES TAYLOR MEGANDo they feel like the victims? “I feel like inside the bar, we had done nothing wrong. And we were never asked to leave the bar,” she said. “We just started getting shoved in a really forceful way. … It could have been so simple and over with, but instead it was chaos and violence. I weigh 127.”

She said her arresting officer grabbed her by the back of the hair and threw her in the back of the patrol car while she was questioning them.  After their arrest, officers made them sit in separate cars “while they sat and got their stories together,” Taylor said.  “I could hear them.”

BRANDON HAYESShe claims she almost passed out as officers left her in a patrol car that was not turned on with the windows up and no air. She says she struggled to breath.

Did they do anything wrong? “I feel like maybe legally, me and my husband cussing at the cops,” Taylor said. “But I feel like they had put their hands on us and harassed us. My husband was defending us. He thought he was defending me and defending himself, because he saw grown men manhandling his wife. He knows me as a mother to his son, and he sees these grown men manhandling his wife.”

What do they think about the officers they injured?  “I don’t know,” she said. “We are not proud of it. I thought my husband did what he had to do. Neither me or my husband are proud of any of it. I feel like my husband did what he had to do to defend us and defend his wife.”

Cover Issue 908For more crime news, pick up this week’s edition of The Jail Report, sold in local gas stations for $1.50.

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Greg Rickabaugh
Greg Rickabaugh
Greg Rickabaugh is an award-winning crime reporter in the Augusta-Aiken area with experience writing for The Augusta Chronicle, The Augusta Press and serving as publisher of The Jail Report. Rickabaugh is a 1994 graduate of the University of South Carolina and has appeared on several crime documentaries on the Investigation Discovery channel.
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