CONGRESS TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Standing with his left arm bandaged and stitched back together, the words “thankful” and “blessed” probably aren’t how you would expect Wayne County Sheriff Thomas Ballinger to explain his day.
But hours after Ballinger and Wayne County Sergeant Dan Broome were stabbed while investigating reports of a suspicious person, both officers were out of the hospital and recovering from their injuries Tuesday night.
RELATED: Wayne County sheriff and deputy stabbed in Congress Township
"Just very thankful that everybody came together and the outcome is what it was,” said Ballinger. “Both of us are here, and the individual’s in jail.”
The sheriff said he and Broome were riding together on patrol Tuesday morning, when they encountered Chad Palmer walking along State Route 539 near West Salem.
Ballinger said Palmer seemed agitated and was yelling as he approached and then walked past the sheriff.
"I tried to stop him, and his back was turned toward me,” said Ballinger. “He had a backpack on the front of him with his hands inside the backpack against his chest, and once I reached out to secure him, he turned, and that’s when he cut my left forearm with his knife.”
The sheriff said he turned and then saw Palmer wrestling on the ground with the sergeant.
"When I turned around and looked, he said ‘he got me,’ and as soon as he said that, the individual took off running,” said Ballinger.
The sheriff, bleeding from a two-to-three-inch cut on his forearm, said he grabbed his radio and called for help before tending to Broome’s injuries.
"A lot of chaos,” said the sheriff. “It’s something we train for, but we don’t experience every day.”
Both officers were rushed to hospitals for treatment.
"I had my radio still on, so I knew what was going on, and then people kept me posted what was happening,” said the sheriff, who admitted he ignored repeated requests to turn the radio off and put the phone down.
State records showed Palmer was already on parole after serving prison time for felonious assault and other charges.
He was arrested after investigators said he was on Facebook live and poured gasoline on himself before negotiators talked him off the roof of a shed.
Ballinger said deputies responded to reports before the stabbing that Palmer was acting suspiciously, but said there was no reason to believe he would be armed and dangerous when officers were called about him again.
"I don’t think there were any red flags other than knowing who he is and that kind of thing, but nothing pointed us in this direction,” said Ballinger.
The sheriff said he plans to return to work on Wednesday.
Doctors told him that because the knife cut into his muscle, he may need surgery.
As for what the sheriff would like to see happen to his accused attacker, Ballinger said he would leave that to the justice system to sort out.
"I don’t have a vendetta against him,” said Ballinger. “I just don’t want him out hurting other people or himself.”
