The man who allegedly ran naked from his Robertsville home carrying a shotgun, then assaulted a Franklin County deputy, was charged with multiple crimes Wednesday, police said.
Joseph Z. Brannaker, 37, is charged in Franklin County Associate Circuit Court with domestic assault charges, resisting arrest, assault of a law enforcement officer, property damage and sexual misconduct.
The charges stem from a Tuesday, June 19, incident in which deputies were called to the Bergmann Road home for a report of a domestic assault involving a firearm, police said.
According to the probable cause statement filed in court by the sheriff’s office, Brannaker’s wife said the man pointed a shotgun at their 16-year-old daughter’s head and threatened to “blow their heads off.”
He also allegedly struck one victim in the jaw and damaged glass and drywall in the home.
Brannaker’s wife and daughter locked themselves into a bedroom when they heard a gunshot from the “front door area” of the home, police said.
Police said he left the home and fired two shots into the air before deputies arrived at the scene.
When deputies arrived on the scene, after 6 p.m., Brannaker was sitting in the driveway of the residence. When he saw deputies, he threw the shotgun in the air and fled on foot into a wooded area. He was not wearing clothes when he fled from deputies.
Following an extensive search, police found Brannaker when a witness reported seeing him.
While he was being apprehended, Brannaker threw a beer into the face of a deputy, police said.
After the man was arrested, he was being evaluated in a Meramec Ambulance and laid on the floor refusing to get up. A deputy grabbed Brannaker’s ankles when he tried to get him off the floor of the ambulance.
Brannaker pulled his left leg free of the deputy and kicked the officer eight to 10 times in the legs and stomach, according to the probable cause statement.
The suspect was stunned with a taser to subdue him.
Brannaker also bit a chunk of padding from the seat of the ambulance and spit onto the floor, police said. Police said that Brannaker solicited a deputy to “engage in sexual conduct”: during the altercation with officers.
Brannaker is being held in the Franklin County jail on a $75,000 cash-only bond.
