Officer, Paramedic Charged in Break-In

A LaGrange teen told authorities that Rusty Herring and Jason Gray forced their way into his home at 3719 Lindsey Lane shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday and attacked him and a friend. The teen told police Gray hit him in the head with a beer bottle.

"The dude shoved me and I asked him to leave, and he shoved me again. So, I hit him in the face," 16-year-old Justin Eubanks said.

Authorities said several people ended up in the fight, including Eubanks' 16-year-old friend, Michael Beeson and Beeson's stepfather, who had to receive stitches after head-butting one of the men.

"I got a couple of scratches," Michael Beeson said. "I got bit."

Herring, 36, of Hunter Street Drive in Goldsboro, was charged with misdemeanor breaking-and-entering and two counts of simple assault, Police Chief Tim Bell said.

The three-and-a-half year veteran of the Goldsboro Police Department was off-duty at the time of the incident, Bell said.

Herring was off the force by Thursday afternoon, but police declined to say whether he resigned or was fired.

Gray, 24, of 509 Mark Edwards Road in LaGrange, was charged with misdemeanor breaking-and-entering, simple assault and assault with a deadly weapon.

Gray resigned as a paramedic with Wayne County Emergency Medical Services early Thursday, authorities said. He had been a county paramedic for nearly five years.

Herring and Gray were released on bond Thursday. Neither could be reached for comment.

Police said the alleged assault escalated from an earlier argument on the telephone.

Eubanks said Herring had a relationship with his mother that went sour, and he told Herring to stop calling her.

"He said, 'I'm going to beat you just like I'm going to beat your momma,'" Eubanks said. "He should have known better than to come up to a house where to teenagers are to react the way he did."