Tanya L. Tyson

BUTLER TWP — A township police officer was injured Saturday afternoon while trying to arrest a woman allegedly high on drugs at a store at the Butler Commons shopping plaza.

Tanya L. Tyson, 25, of Clinton Township was eventually arrested and charged with felony assault in the fracas at the Target store.

Police said a store employee believed the suspect was under the influence of drugs when she walked into the store about 1:30 p.m. Tyson took a bag of Sixlets candy into the women's rest room.

Employees followed her inside and found packs of the candy-coated, chocolate scattered on the floor. They also heard Tyson “making indiscernible noises in a stall,” according to a police report.

Police were called and an officer saw the woman with a hypodermic needle in her lap. They suspect she was shooting heroin in the stall.

Later, officers seized the loaded syringe and four empty stamp bags of suspected heroin, said police Chief John Hays.

When authorities tried to stop Tyson, police said, she ran out of the rest room and headed for the exit doors. She was caught but not before Patrolman Jonathan Schaffner was knocked over into metal dividers in the store near the doors.

Schaffner was bruised in the scuffle. He later sought medical treatment for the minor injuries. Hays said the officer would be off “a couple of days” because of those injuries.

Police said Tyson repeatedly struggled with officers, who finally placed her in handcuffs. She was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital for treatment of a possible drug overdose.

Police later learned that she also was wanted on several bench warrants.

She was later released from the hospital and placed in the Butler County Prison on charges in the store incident and for the warrants.

She is charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest, possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia, retail theft, public drunkenness and disorderly conduct.