HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — The father of Memphis Grizzlies player O.J. Mayo was charged with attempted murder Thursday after he hit a police officer with his car and dragged him for several feet, police said.
Two officers were searching for someone else at about 3:30 a.m. when they saw 39-year-old Kenneth Maurice Ziegler of Huntington in a vehicle trying to hide, police said. When they confronted him, he put the vehicle into gear, drove into one of the officers and dragged him, they said.
Police chased the vehicle for several miles through a Huntington neighborhood before disabling it with spike strips. Ziegler was captured after a short foot chase and charged with attempted murder, two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, obstructing, fleeing in a vehicle and fleeing on foot, police said.
According to police, about 85 grams of marijuana and several chunks of crack cocaine were found in the vehicle.
Ziegler was being held Thursday at the Western Regional Jail. Police say there also are outstanding warrants charging him with fleeing, driving on a suspended license and burglary.
Huntington attorney Jason Goad, who is representing Ziegler, declined to comment.
Mayo was aware of the incident, but he declined to comment through a team spokesman Thursday after the Grizzlies’ practice in Memphis. Mayo didn’t live with his father growing up. But Ziegler did help Mayo’s mother, Alisha Mayo, hand out turkeys and hams in Huntington, W. Va., last month on behalf of their son.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.