Punch in Lawton city jail gets man put in county

A punch to a corrections officer’s face has a man jailed on $20,000 bond.

Waylon Gray Flanagin, 38, made his initial appearance Friday in Comanche County District Court where he received a felony charge of assault and battery of a corrections officer, records indicate. The crime is punishable by up to five years in prison.

A Lawton police officer responded to an inmate with an open wound to his hand at the Lawton City Jail, 100 S. Railroad, shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday. Officer Gary Franklin spoke with a corrections officer who first responded.

During the routine check on inmates, the corrections officer said he saw blood in Flanagin’s cell and a self-inflicted injury to his right hand, Franklin stated. While attempting to provide medical aid to Flanagin, the inmate became combative and struck the officer in the left eye with the bloody hand, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Flanagin was detained after other officers used a Taser; the officer was treated at the scene. Flanagin was placed in a different cell for further observation, the affidavit states.

City Jail records indicate Flanagin was in custody for a booking charge of threatening to perform an act of violence. As of Friday, he had not been charged in district court for that offense.

Flanagin has an April 2022 felony conviction in Comanche County for a count of fourth-degree arson and received a suspended sentence, records indicate.

Flanagin returns to court at 3 p.m. Jan. 2, 2024, for his preliminary hearing conference.