High Springs man arrested for shooting at police officers, battering K-9

Staff report

HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. – John Quinn Presnell, Jr., 34, was arrested early this morning and charged with four counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, resisting an officer with violence, resisting a K-9 with violence, striking a K-9, and property damage.

At about 12:16 a.m. this morning, High Springs Police Department (HSPD) officers responded to a home in High Springs where the caller said her husband, a police officer, was being threatened by Presnell, who lived next door. She also reported that Presnell had slashed two tires of her husband’s patrol car and one tire of his personal vehicle. She said that when he was asked to leave, Presnell threatened to kill her husband and then went back to his property.

As two HSPD officers arrived at the home, Presnell allegedly fired a single shot from a rifle. The officers took cover and ordered Presnell to surrender, but he reportedly kept yelling at them. In response to the officers’ radio call about shots fired, Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies also responded to the property.

Presnell allegedly fled into the woods near the property, and officers believed he may have been armed with a .22 caliber rifle that was stored in a shed that he was seen entering, along with the muzzleloader rifle he had allegedly fired earlier.

Deputies, HSPD officers, and Alachua Police Department officers set a perimeter and gave multiple commands for Presnell to come out of the woods with empty hands.

About 2 hours later, at 2:17 a.m., Presnell reportedly came out of the woods, holding a closed pocket knife and continuing to ignore commands from deputies. An ACSO K-9 was deployed to apprehend Presnell, and the K-9 bit Presnell while apprehending him. Presnell allegedly hit the K-9 multiple times with the closed pocket knife before he was taken into custody by deputies.

Presnell was transported to a local hospital to be medically cleared before being booked into the jail this morning.

Presnell completed a pre-trial diversion agreement for possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana in 2013 and was convicted of two counts of possession of drug equipment in 2017; another charge of possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell was dropped in 2017. All of the above charges were in Columbia County; in Alachua County, he was convicted of driving without a valid license in 2016.

Presnell’s bail will be set at his First Appearance hearing on Sunday morning.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.