Albemarle police officers open up about encounter with convicted murderer

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By Liz Foster

ALBEMARLE, N.C. — A convicted murderer is accused of punching one Albemarle police officer and choking another until he couldn't breathe during a traffic stop.

The two officers opened up only to Channel 9 about the encounter.

"I couldn't breathe or anything and couldn't get him off," Officer Doug Edwards said.

What started as a routine traffic stop for an expired license plate tag Monday night, quickly turned violent and dangerous for Edwards and Officer Josh Laws.

"Usually, people are fighting to get away and run. This gentleman had no intentions of leaving,” Laws said. “He was more up for the fight, wanting to actually fight us and cause injury."

Laws and Edwards said they asked the suspect, John Surratt Jr., to get out of the car after realizing he had outstanding arrest warrants.

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(John Surratt Jr.)

When he wouldn't, they said they tried to pull him out of the car.

That's when Surratt allegedly punched Laws before wrestling with Edwards and choking him until he couldn't breathe.

"He'd already struck me several times and choked,” Edwards said. “I was trying to figure out what was going on and trying to keep consciousness."

The officers did not know, at the time, that they were dealing with a convicted murderer.

In 2001, Surratt was charged and convicted of second-degree murder in Stanly County. He escaped from deputies in 2005 when being treated at the hospital.

He served 14 years in prison and got out in 2014.

Surratt is back behind bars, facing a slew of charges, including felony assault by strangulation, felony assault inflicting injury on an officer, resisting arrest and more.

The officers were back at work Tuesday night.

"I believe an officer one-on-one with him, it could've turned out a lot worse," Laws said.

Channel 9 Anchor Liz Foster asked Laws if he reached for his weapon at any point.

Laws said he did, but didn't fire because he didn't want to hit his fellow officer, who was wrestling with Surratt.

The incident was captured on the officers' body cameras. Channel 9 asked police for a copy of that footage.

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