Resident Charged With Attacking Firefighters Working To Save His Home

Sign up for the Cartersville Patch newsletter!

---

A Bartow County man has been charged in with allegedly attacking firefighters working to put out a blaze at his home.

Deputies with the Bartow County Sheriff’s Office arrested Raymond Frank Manley, 57, of Rydal and charged him with five counts of felony obstruction of a firefighter and seven counts of crossing a fire hose, according to jail records.

A deputy with the agency was dispatched around 11:15 p.m. Tuesday, July 14 to a home on East Valley Road in Rydal in response to ”an irate man who had driven over fire hoses and was now physically fighting with firefighters” who were trying to put out a fire at the home.

According to sheriff’s office incident report, the responding deputy met with Manley, who said he was informed by neighbors that firetrucks were at his home.

That information prompted Manley to rush home, drive up his driveway, which was blocked off, and allegedly over several fire hoses.

“He had 12 cats inside the house that he tried to run in and look for,” the deputy recounts in the report. “He was pulled away from the house, but claims he was only arguing with the officials on scene.”

That was not the case, Bartow County Deputy Fire Chief Dwayne Jamison said. Jamison told police he had firefighters working around the home when Manley allegedly drove “recklessly” up the driveway, almost hitting a firefighter on the scene while running over seven fire hose sections.

The report also alleges Manley drove across the front yard and parked his Ford F-350 on top of a fire hose, which caused it to flatten and restrict its water supply.

Jamison stated Manley got out of the truck and ran towards the front door. According to the report, Jamison and three other firefighters had to stop their attack on the blaze to prevent Manley from entering the burning structure.

One firefighter grabbed the resident as he approached the front door, which allegedly prompted Manley to begin ”swinging his arms and fists” at the firefighter. Jamison said Manley had to be physically restrained, and he eventually calmed down after several minutes of struggling with officials.

None of the firefighters were injured in the alleged scuffle, but Manley’s “reckless actions caused a great hinderance to their duties while fighting a very active and dangerous fire,” the report states.

Manley was transported without incident to the Bartow County Jail.

---

Image via Shutterstock