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Wanted man slips, tumbles down Buckeye Park steps

JANELLE PATTERSON The Marietta Times Patrolman Jon Blasko and Sgt. Roy Kampmeier of the Marietta Police Department place Brandon Weimer, 28, under arrest at the base of the stairs leading from Buckeye Park to the corner of Ingleside and Kenwood avenues in Marietta Wednesday

The walkway from the corner of Ingleside and Kenwood avenues to Buckeye Park in Marietta was closed Wednesday after a suspect and a Marietta police officer tumbled down the slippery steps.

“Neighbors reported a suspicious person coming for a few days with a West Virginia license plate and they said he’d come down the path and they didn’t know what he was up to,” said Patrolman Jon Blasko, of the Marietta Police Department. “I went to go down the steps but those steps are so wet and slimy that I lost my footing and went down. Then when I got up I saw him throw some type of locket and whatever he was smoking and start to run.”

Blasko said Brandon Lloyd Weimer, 28, of 423 Phillips St., Marietta, tumbled down the remaining wooden steps to the concrete slab at the base before complying with orders to stop.

“I heard them go down,” said Jake Weber, 34, who lives on Kenwood Avenue and had called the police. “It just didn’t seem right that this car would park up here if they were from out of state and going to the park. They were parking there every other day or so for three to four weeks.”

An ambulance from the Marietta Fire Department responded to assess Weimer’s injuries after Weimer was in custody and said on scene that Weimer had no life-threatening injuries and could be transported to the Washington County Jail.

“He just fell a good distance so I wanted to make sure,” Blasko told the squad.

Weimer faces charges of failure to appear, a felony and obstructing official business, a misdemeanor after his arrest Wednesday. He remains in the custody of the Washington County Jail today.

“And he had a warrant out for failure to appear in court on Oct. 25, 2016 on a charge of trafficking of drugs,” said Sgt. Roy Kampmeier. “That was out of the sheriff’s office.”

Weimer was indicted in 2013 for two counts of trafficking in drugs, both fourth-degree felonies. Washington County Sheriff’s Office officials said he was convicted in 2014 and had failed to appear for a violation of community control hearing in October.

Marietta Police Capt. Aaron Nedeff closed the walkway from the street corner to the park Wednesday after inspecting the rotting wooden stairs and noting the lack of traction even his uniform boots had on the steps.

“These should be catching on here and they’re sliding,” Nedeff said. “These steps need to be taken out for safety.”

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