Singing suspect booked after alleged restaurant battery

Ruston police on Friday arrested a Springhill man after he apparently punched a local restaurant patron for no reason, then went to a second business and began banging on the windows.

Joshua Cole Butcher, 40, reportedly hit a man who was dining at an outdoor table at Cajun Bar and Grill on Farmerville Highway. Both the victim and the restaurant manager told police they believed Butcher was either intoxicated or on drugs because he was rambling and couldn’t stand still, Butcher’s arrest affidavit said.

Butcher was no longer at the restaurant when police arrived.

About three hours later, police were called to the Raceway Gas Station across the street after the clerk reported a man who had been drinking in the parking lot had begun to bang on the store windows. The responding officer recognized the man — later identified as Butcher — as the same suspect caught on surveillance video at the restaurant. According to the affidavit, Butcher had no identification with him. When asked for his name and birthday, he began to sing, the affidavit said.

Butcher wa s charged with simple battery, resisting an officer by refusal to provide information, and disturbing the peace by public intoxication.

He was booked into the Lincoln Parish Detention Center on $2,000 bond.