Man threatens diners with scissors
Jan. 20—THOMASVILLE — A Thomasville Police Department officer who had just finished lunch at a local restaurant Wednesday intervened to arrest a man threatening diners with scissors.
Just before 12:15 p.m., the officer was in the parking lot of East Coast Wings on Randolph Street when he learned from patrons exiting the restaurant that a man inside was brandishing scissors and demanding money, police said.
Officers who arrived entered the restaurant and found the man sitting on a stool holding the scissors. The man stood up and started walking toward the officers while telling the officers to shoot him, police said.
The officers told the man repeatedly to drop the scissors and lie on the floor, and eventually he did.
Police charged Derrick James Joyce, 41, who police said is homeless, with one count of robbery with a dangerous weapon. Joyce was also served with an outstanding order for arrest out of Randolph County for failing to appear in court for a simple affray charge.
Joyce was being held Wednesday in the Davidson County Jail in Lexington with bond set at $100,051 secured.
Thomasville police also had encountered Joyce on Tuesday morning at the Sheetz on Liberty Drive after Joyce called 911 and reported he wanted to harm himself. Officers arrived and took Joyce to Novant Health Thomasville Medical Center for evaluation.
