From The Bell County Sheriff's Department and partial content from WRIL -
At approximately 1:35pm Monday August 26, 2019 Bell County Deputies Adam Southern and Max Graves were dispatched to a Beech Tree Lane residence in regard to an intoxicated man, driving his truck through the yard and spinning his tires. The caller also stated that the man was acting irate.
Once on scene the deputies came in contact with 48-year-old Charles Westley Lawson who was walking around a gold 1500 Chevrolet which had crashed in a ditch line in the front yard. Lawson had his hands in the air yelling that he was “protesting ingenuity, integrity of effort” and that he was “raising hell for the Liberty Bell”.
Deputy Southern gave Lawson verbal commands to comply and he was placed under arrest. The deputy states that Lawson had a very strong odor of alcohol coming from his breath as he would speak and stated he “had drank (7) seven (12) twelve ounce 8% alcohol cans” and that he would happily “share all of his knowledge with the enthused if it pertained to liberty business or the dreams of happiness”.
Deputy Southern found that Lawson had punched out the front window of the home causing injury to his arm. Due to the circumstances and Lawson’s level of intoxication, standard field sobriety tests were unable to be performed.
Charles Westley Lawson was treated on scene for his injury by Bell County EMS and then lodged in the Bell County Detention Center charged with disorderly conduct – 2nd degree and operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs (aggravated circumstances) 1st degree.
Just weeks ago Lawson recently made national and international headlines after driving from Kentucky to the Pentagon, approached two Pentagon police officers around 3:30pm in the south parking lot and while speaking to the officers, made "incoherent statements about being in the area for "liberty business."
Court documents state that when the officers asked Lawson if he had weapons on him or in his 2000 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, he told them he had a "loaded 12-gauge shotgun in his vehicle." After placing Lawson in handcuffs, the officers searched his truck and discovered the shotgun with loaded with six shotgun shells, a 25-count box of more shotgun shells, two loose shotgun shells, an 18-inch machete, a "green leafy substance wrapped in white paper," a yellow pocket knife, a red Swiss army knife and an open 1.75 bottle of Jim Beam Vanilla bourbon whiskey.
Lawson was reportedly taken to Arlington County Department of Human Services where he agreed to a psychiatric evaluation and afterward a Falls Church Virginia treatment center. A background check found that Lawson could not legally have a gun because he was involuntarily hospitalized for mental illness in February of this year. In a petition for his commitment, Lawson’s wife stated that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.