When Edmonson County Sheriff’s Detective Wally Ritter responded to a call for help from a woman living in a home in the Chalybeate community sometime after 12 a.m. Wednesday, he walked in through the front door and witnessed a sexual assault in progress.

The woman living in the home heard an initial knock on her door near midnight and thought that perhaps someone on the other side of the door had been in a wreck or needed help. She answered the door and saw Thomas Jaggers, 53, of Wingfield, standing. She recognized Jaggers and let him inside, Sheriff Shane Doyle said. 

Jaggers began making unwanted advances, and the woman told him to leave, Doyle said. He refused and she called for help.

“When (Ritter) got there, Mr. Jaggers was actively assaulting the victim,” Doyle said. 

Jaggers was charged Wednesday morning with resisting arrest, third-degree terroristic threatening, first-degree sodomy, first-degree sexual abuse, third-degree assault on a police officer and first-degree wanton endangerment of a police officer, according to Hart County Jail online records. He was booked at 9:40 a.m.

The Daily News does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault, therefore, the address and street name the sheriff’s office responded to is being withheld from publication.

“While he was enroute she said it had escalated to an attack,” Doyle said. Ritter asked dispatchers to send additional help. Doyle and another deputy responded to the call, arriving after Ritter.

Ritter was able to go inside the house through the unlocked front door.

“I walked in during an assault,” Ritter said. He declined to release any other details of the assault.

Ritter ordered Jaggers to stop and show his hands but he didn’t, Doyle said. Ritter had to use physical force to subdue Jaggers. After getting Jaggers in handcuffs, Jaggers is accused of once again engaging officers in a physical fight. 

“He couldn’t use his hands but continued fighting,” Doyle said. “He was intoxicated. He was kicking, thrashing, head butting and being extremely belligerent.”

“The victim refused an ambulance,” Doyle said. “Mr. Jaggers absolutely needed an ambulance at that point.”

Jaggers was taken to The Medical Center emergency room where he was treated and released for injuries he sustained while fighting with police, Doyle said.

The alleged victim was taken by private car to The Medical Center where she was also treated and released, Doyle said.

No one else was inside the home at the time of the incident, Ritter said. 

Jaggers is being held in the Hart County Jail in lieu of a $100,000 cash bond.

— Follow Assistant City Editor Deborah Highland on Twitter @BGDNCrimebeat or visit bgdailynews.com.