Public Safety

A local man died after being punched in a Braselton restaurant last week. Authorities are ruling the incident a homicide.

Clint Roshan Ali, 34, died after being struck by a man in Jack’s Bar and Grill on Hwy. 211. Ali is a storeowner of the Shell station located within walking distance of the restaurant.

Shortly after the Dec. 15 incident, the Braselton Police Department arrested the suspect, David Allen Digiacomo, 40, of Flowery Branch, on charges of murder, aggravated assault and obstruction.

Authorities were called to the restaurant around 10 p.m. for reports of a man who had fallen at the bar and was unresponsive.

The incident was seemingly unprovoked as Digiacomo approached Ali at the jukebox and “sucker punched” him in the head. Surveillance video inside the restaurant clearly shows the incident, and BPD chief Terry Esco noted it’s “pretty cut and dry.”

An online version of this story said that Ali and a friend of Digiacomo had an altercation at the bar, but that initial incident is believed to have taken place earlier.

See the full story in the Dec. 21 issue of The Jackson Herald. 

A man was reportedly stabbed 10 times in an Arcade bar early Sunday morning. No one was charged in the incident, but police have two suspects.
Two men were injured, but the second one only had a cut on his left wrist.

Police said Rusty Greenway, 30, 168 Old Barn Trail, Jefferson, was taken to Athens Regional Medical Center for the multiple stab wounds.

Also treated was Terry Samples, 31, 189 Railroad St., Jefferson.

See the full story in the Dec. 14 issue of The Jackson Herald.

A Commerce man thinks an “old friend” poisoned him in revenge for a years-old fling with the friend’s ex-wife, according to a Jackson County Sheriff’s Office incident report.

The man told a deputy that an old friend he hadn’t seen in years — because the complainant had slept with the man’s ex-wife — came by his Old Airport Road residence Nov. 18. They had a couple of beers. Later, after the friend left, the complainant became sick, throwing up blood.

Two days later, he went to a restaurant to drink beer and the friend came up, sat beside him and “stated to him that he paid him back for what he had done to him,” the deputy’s report said.

See the full story in the Dec. 7 issue of The Jackson Herald.

Two men recently fought over a gun in the parking lot of a Talmo church. Officers with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office were called to the Main Street, Talmo, church on a Sunday evening in reference to a simple battery.

The complainant told officers the suspect had been coming to the church for several weeks offering marijuana to 15-year-old girls. He told the man to leave and offered him a ride, but the suspect refused and started asking other people to take him home.

The complainant said he didn’t want anyone to take the man home without knowing what he’d been doing at the church. So he went inside the church, called for everyone’s attention and yelled to them that the man had been selling marijuana to girls at the church.

See the full story in the Nov. 30 issue of The Jackson Herald.

The roll up door for the concession stand at Memorial football stadium was damaged and about $200 worth of items were stolen recently.
A Jefferson officer said the door on the south side of the building was damaged and the rollers were off the track.
Several tables were knocked over in the concession stand.
A Jefferson booster club member said a 24-pack of cokes, three boxes of Skittles, a box of sour punch straws and one of extreme air heads were missing.
The damaged door appeared to have been pried from the tracks with a crow bar, the officer said. The main door to the stand also was damaged. The door handled had been damaged. The damage was estimated at $700.
City police reported the stand has been burglarized several times recently.
See more incidents in the Nov. 23 issue of The Jackson Herald.

Guns were pulled in three separate road rage cases last week in West Jackson.
In one incident, a man said a truck pulled into his lane when he was about to pass a tractor-trailer on I-85. He told officers with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office that the driver “brake checked” him, but he was eventually able to pass.
The other driver then flicked him off and yelled at him. The complainant flipped him off in return, then he said the light came on in the vehicle and the driver pointed a gun at him.
The complainant said he “hit the brakes,” got the tag number and called 9-1-1. He described the driver as a man in his mid 30s with facial hair. The registered truck owner’s identification photo matches the description.
See the full story in the Nov. 16 issue of The Jackson Herald.

A juvenile student reported she was drugged and raped during a Halloween party at her house. The girl told a school counselor her cousin brought two unknown Hispanic males to the party, and both raped her.
Carlos Garcia-Degado, 18, 844 Briscoe Mill Road, Bethlehem, was charged with rape and arrested Nov. 2. He is being held in the Jackson County jail without bond.
See the full story and other arrests in the Nov. 10 issue of The Jackson Herald.

Multiple Jefferson High School students are the suspects of recent car break-ins in the area.
Two current JHS students and two previously-expelled students reportedly broke into vehicles and took items in the Brookside and Heritage subdivisions. One juvenile was taken to Rutland Youth Detention Center.
See the full story in the Nov. 2 issue of The Jackson Herald.