Man arrested after family fight over drugs

When Deputy Sheriff Charles K. Simpkiss responded to a verbal altercation call from 3304 Shore Drive in St Augustine South last night at about 7:00 p.m., he likely was not expecting to be until 3:43 a.m. this morning compiling his report.

Simpkiss says that when he arrived at the residence, he met with Mary Pritchard who told him that her son, Chayne Pritchard, had been in a vehicle accident earlier that day. The physician prescribed her son Lortab; a brand name for acetaminophen and hydrocodone used to relieve moderate to severe pain.

Chayne Pritchard has a history of abusing prescription medications, according to a statement from his mother, so, she did not want to fill the order for the narcotic pain reliever.

This led to a fight between 20 year-old Chayne Pritchard and his mother.

Once backup arrived, Simpkiss and Deputy Dobbs entered the residence with Mary Pritchard to speak with her son about the disturbance. On entering, Simpkiss observed what appeared to be a broken shotgun on top of a washing machine in a utility closet.

Simpkiss examined the weapon which appeared to be inoperative. He reported that the trigger mechanism appeared damaged, it was missing the hand grip and that the barrel appeared to be broken off.

Simpkiss discovered Chayne Pritchard in the kitchen and questioned him about the altercation with his mother. He explained that he had been in a vehicle accident earlier in the day and needed medication for his pain. His mother stated he is currently in drug court for abusing prescription narcotics.

According to the incident report, Chayne Pritchard was calm and polite during the conversation. Mary Pritchard said she would give her son some Ibuprofen for his pain and told him to go lay down.

While deputies were outside talking with Lysle Pritchard, who is Chayne Pritchard’s father, they heard Mary Pritchard and Chayne Pritchard in a verbal argument inside the residence.

Deputies re-entered the residence and Simpkiss says that he observed Mary Pritchard run out of a back hallway yelling “he has a bunch of guns and he said he’s going to shoot me if I don’t get him his pills.”

Simpkiss tried to stop the father, who refused. Lysle Pritchard ran down the hallway engaging Chayne Pritchard in a physical altercation in the doorway of one of the bedrooms.

Simpkiss took a covered position at the end of the hallway behind a wall and says he heard Chayne Pritchard state he was going to shoot Lysle Pritchard for taking his hand guns and not getting his pills.

“I ordered Chayne Pritchard to come out and show me his hands and he refused,” Simpkiss wrote. “Chayne Pritchard stated he knew I was wearing Kevlar and that he had a shotgun and buckshot rounds and that they would do damage.”

Chayne Pritchard was heard to say that if the deputy came around the corner into the room, he was going to shoot him. The deputy continued to try to extract Lysle Pritchard from the bedroom, into the hallway, and to stop fighting with his son.

Lysle Pritchard dragged Chayne Pritchard into the living room.

“I ordered Chayne Pritchard to put his hands up and walk toward me,” Simpkiss said. “He refused, pushed away from Lysle Pritchard, and ran back down the hallway.”

At that point, deputies escorted Lysle and Mary Pritchard out of the residence. Simpkiss says that Lysle Pritchard attempting to re-enter the residence several times.

Simpkiss armed himself with an M4 assault rifle and covered the front door of the residence from behind his patrol vehicle. He wrote that he questioned Lysle Pritchard about the kinds of guns his son possessed and was told that he had a loaded, sawed off shotgun and a black semiautomatic handgun. When questioned, Lysle Pritchard said that he was not aware of any more long guns or rifles in the residence.

Deputies responded to the scene and took up positions surrounding the front and sides of the residence — Chayne Pritchard’s parents were removed to a neighbor who agreed to take them to her house for safety. Lysle Pritchard refused to leave the scene and had to be physically removed.

The SWAT team responded to the scene and took up positions surrounding the residence. While SWAT members were establishing a perimeter a white male subject matching Chayne Pritchard’s description was observed on the rooftop of the residence directly behind and to the West of Chayne Pritchard’s residence.

According to the report, the subject was given verbal orders to come down with his hands up. He refused and jumped off of the roof in an attempt to flee. When one deputy made contact with Chayne Pritchard, he reportedly was ordered to show his hands; which he refused.

Simpkiss reports that Pritchard responded “you’ll have to fuckin shoot me!” then he turned to flee. The deputy deployed his Taser striking Chayne Pritchard in the right upper back and the top of his right leg. Pritchard fell to the ground and several SWAT team members attempted to secure him.

Pritchard began fighting and resisting the deputies stating “I’m a mix martial arts fighter I’ll take you all on!”, however, the team members were eventually able to secure him.

A New England Arms .410 caliber sawed off shotgun SN# 360531 was discovered at the base of the ladder against the back of the residence where Chayne Pritchard was discovered. A live round was discovered loaded in the weapon. A search incident to arrest of Chayne Pritchard revealed a .410 caliber shotgun round similar to the one found loaded in the weapon in his back pocket.

The shotgun was not listed as stolen in an NCIC computer check.

A box of Magtech.45 caliber hollow point bullets was observed on a nightstand in the back bedroom as well as several cases for long guns seen under Chayne Pritchard’s bed. A gun safe in the hallway closet was open and contained several shotguns and two rifles.

Mary Pritchard stated that she discovered a black semiautomatic handgun in Chayne Pritchard’s pillow case today. She told officers that her husband took the gun to his place of business. Deputies questioned Lysle Pritchard as to why he never notified law enforcement about the cache of weapons since he is aware that his son is a convicted felon.

Pritchard responded that he was trying not to make a big deal out of it and get his son in trouble. When deputies asked for the handgun, Pritchard stated that he wasn’t going to turn the gun over because “it had nothing to do with this”.

Deputy Dobbs escorted Pritchard to his business on Old Dixie Hwy and took possession of the black Taurus model PT145 .45 caliber handgun SN# NYA54798. An NCIC computer check of the gun showed it stolen.

Chayne Pritchard was medically evaluated by a SWAT team medic and Fire-Rescue and found to have healthy vital signs and no serious injuries; he was arrested and transported to the County Jail. He was booked at 10:58 p.m. and is in custody in lieu of $40,500.00 bond.