A Hutchinson Police Officer is in stable condition after being dragged along a vehicle and beaten with a hammer following a mask dispute at Menards.
Per a press release from the police department, at one point after the officer confronted the suspect, he rolled his arm up in his car window and dragged him down the road.
And it all started when the man in question allegedly refused to don a mask and instead assaulted a worker with a piece of lumber.
Police say it happened this afternoon when officers responded to the Menards where an employee was reportedly assaulted by the suspect, a 61-year old Hutchinson man, after a dispute over wearing a mask.
A short time later, an officer found the suspect in his vehicle in the parking lot of the Walmart. A slow-speed chase ensued, at which point the suspect stopped. Police say the officer tried to engage the man through the open drivers-side window, and the man drove off while the officer was dragged along. Police say the man then started hitting the officer in the head with a hammer.
The officer was hospitalized and the man was arrested at the scene. The incident is under investigation by the McLeod County Sheriffs Office.