TIFTON — Two men were arrested in separate incidents over the weekend after allegedly fighting with police.

At about 12:21 p.m. Friday, Officer Melissa McCulley of the Tifton Police Department was dispatched to Brother Charlie’s Rescue Mission on Beech Street to investigate a report of an unwanted person on the premises. She said that when she arrived she could hear someone yelling about not wanting to leave.

The officer said she asked the man, Ricky Mingo, 37, of Tifton, what was “going on.” She said that he told her that she better have more people because he was not leaving and she was “going to bleed.”

At that point, McCulley called Officer Jay Klug for assistance. She said that when Klug arrived, he asked Mingo if he would leave voluntarily but the man said again that he would not leave without a fight. She said Klug then asked for her can of pepper spray.

McCulley said that they asked Mingo again to leave voluntarily but he again said that he would not leave without a fight. She said he made an aggressive move toward the officers and as he approached, Klug sprayed him. She said Mingo picked up a plastic storage bin and threw it, hitting her in the head and striking Klug as well.

McCulley said Klug grabbed the man and attempted to handcuff him while she edged around him to assist. She said Mingo broke free and charged at her, at which point she grabbed his wrists as he tried to hit her. She said Klug grabbed the man from behind and forced him to the ground. She said she then placed her knee in the man’s back and placed on a handcuff on one of his wrists.

McCulley said that Lt. Gerald Brogden of the TPD arrived then and helped handcuff Mingo’s other wrist. She said that once cuffed, Klug began flushing the man’s face with water and called for Tift County Emergency Medical Services. She said that Mingo finally calmed down and stopped resisting. When EMS arrived they suggested continuing to flush Mingo’s face with water.

Mingo was transported to the Tift County Law Enforcement Center and charged with two counts of obstruction of law enforcement officers and one count of criminal trespass.

Klug received an injury to his elbow during the battle while McCulley and Brogden suffered minor irritation to their arms due to the spray.

In a separate incident, Det. Ricky Day of the TPD was working off-duty security at about 9:50 p.m. Saturday at Tifton Cinema Six on North Virginia Avenue when he noticed a disturbance that later turned violent. He said that a patron, Walter Latavian Joiner, 18, of Tifton, became “loud and boisterous” after theater employees denied him entrance to an R-rated movie after he could not show identification proving his age.

Day said that Joiner used “loud and profane language” in the presence of 50 to 80 other patrons, including children under the age of 16. Day said he approached Joiner but the man walked away from him and continued uttering profanity. He said that he caught up with Joiner and placed his hand around his arm and told him he was under arrest for disorderly conduct.

Day said the man continued using profanity as they walked through the crowd outside the theater and the detective finally told him to sit down on his patrol car. He said that at that point Joiner jerked away from him and began to flee. Day said he tried to regain control of the man, but he resisted and knocked his police radio to the ground, preventing him from calling back-up officers.

Day said he was able to maintain contact with Joiner and told him repeatedly to stop resisting arrest. He said that Joiner turned toward him and attempted to strike him twice with punches. He said that Joiner pushed away from him by pushing his chest. Day said he struggled with the man for at least two minutes but was unable to gain control of him.

Day said that due to Joiner’s prior actions he unholstered his pistol and leveled it at him, telling him to get on the ground and stop resisting arrest. He said Joiner then put his hands in the air and began to comply. Day said he holstered his weapon but then the man started resisting again.

Day said that throughout the struggle, Joiner called to the crowd around them to come help him against the officer. Day said he was eventually able to wrestle the man to the ground and get on top of him. He said he used a pressure point technique behind the man’s ear and called E-911 on his Southern Linc radio phone.

Day said that another officer arrived and helped put Joiner in handcuffs. Day said that as he escorted the man to the other officer’s patrol car, Joiner pulled away again and referred to Day using profanity several times. He said he pushed the man against the patrol car and searched him, but Joiner continued to wrestle with him.

Day said he used another technique to subdue the man, lifting his cuffed hands away from his back. He was then searched and placed inside the patrol car and taken to the LEC for booking. Joiner was charged with obstruction of law enforcement officers and disorderly conduct.