LMPD :: Louisville Metro Police Department
IMAGE

Police say passerby may have saved life of LMPD officer attacked by homeless man

IMAGE
PHOTO

A Louisville man is charged with attempted murder after police say he tried to kill an LMPD officer.

According to an arrest report, it happened Wednesday around 7:30 p.m. in the 700 block of Magazine Street in downtown Louisville.

Police say that's where an LMPD officer was attempting to make contact with Jamal Nicholls, who was suspected of assaulting someone earlier in the day. As the female officer approached Nicholls, he was "pacing and making threats to blow everyone up."

Police say Nicholls overpowered the officer as she was placing him in handcuffs "and once on the ground subject started grabbing her head and trying to twist it."

According to the arrest report, a witness saw what was happening and came to the officer's aid. Police say that man probably saved the officer's life because Nicholls "had the upper hand by grabbing her by the neck and twisting as hard as he could" and that "he intended to cause death to this offer."

Nicholls is charged with attempted murder, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. He is being held at Louisville Metro Corrections on a $100,000 full cash bond and is due back in court on Sept. 5.