Officials: Man shocked twice after courtroom struggle

LANCASTER — A man accused of being disruptive and belligerent in Fairfield County Juvenile Court during his son’s drug trafficking hearing was barred from the courtroom and later shocked twice by law enforcement, officials reported.

A 46-year-old man described as a “sovereign citizen” by the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office reportedly struggled with deputies during a Juvenile Court hearing Monday on the third floor of the Fairfield County Common Pleas Courthouse.

County Probate and Juvenile Court Judge Terre Vandervoort signed a court order barring the man, identified as Shawn M. Cook, of Lancaster, from the entire third floor of the courthouse.

Cook was arrested around noon after allegedly resisting officers attempting to escort him from his son’s court hearing, according to sheriff’s office reports. He also is accused of assaulting a deputy in the process and is facing five criminal charges, including two felony-level charges, as a result.

According to court documents, Cook and his wife, Joy Cook, were being “disruptive and interfering with (their son) Landon’s ability to cooperate with the court” during his arraignment hearing July 28, according to the court order. Landon Cook was 17 at the time of the arraignment but has since turned 18, which means he no longer requires his parents’ presence in the courtroom.

When the family returned to the courthouse for another hearing in relation to the trafficking case Monday, Vandervoort issued a court order barring Shawn Cook from the third floor. Joy Cook was allowed to remain in the courtroom as long as she did not become uncooperative and disruptive.

Juvenile/Probate Court Administrator Michael Orlando would not release any further details about Landon Cook’s trafficking case but did say his father was not involved.

Deputies asked Shawn Cook to leave the area, but he refused, according to the report. That is when officers took Shawn Cook into custody and he began to “passively resist arrest” by refusing to walk to the elevator.

The struggle continued in the elevator when one of the deputies sustained “two abrasions to both orbital lobes and some bleeding inside his mouth,” according to the report. Shawn Cook then allegedly continued to resist once off the elevator on the first floor and was shocked with an electric stun gun to stop his “aggressive violence,” the report said.

Officers carried Shawn Cook across the street to the Fairfield County Jail, where he allegedly resisted and was shocked again. He was then placed in a restraint chair where deputies read his Miranda rights, which he said he did not understand.

He told the deputy he only understands “common law.”

When asked whether he was injured during the arrest, he shook his head no and said a jail nurse had already examined him.

Shawn Cook was arraigned Tuesday afternoon in Fairfield County Municipal Court on charges of obstructing official business, a fifth-degree felony; assault, a fourth-degree felony; and resisting arrest, criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct, all misdemeanors.

There is reportedly surveillance footage that captured the incident, which the Eagle-Gazette has requested. However, the video has not yet been released by the sheriff’s office. Lancaster police and probation officers also reported they assisted deputies with Shawn Cook’s arrest.

sroush@lancastereaglegazette.com

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Twitter: @SpencerRoushLEG