By Shavonne Potts

shavonne.potts@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — A Rowan County Detention Center officer received minor injuries while attempting to break up a fight between inmates after another inmate punched the officer from behind.

The assault occurred Tuesday at 7:45 a.m. when two unnamed inmates were fighting. Deputy D.P. Brooks intervened and reported that he felt someone come up behind him. He was struck in the side of the head, closest to his eye.

According to Rowan County Sheriff’s Office Capt. John Sifford, Brooks was struck by Marcelleus Robinson, 28, of Orangeburg, S.C. Robinson was an inmate who had been in the jail since last year.

Sifford said it’s unclear why Robinson struck the deputy. Robinson was also not involved in the original fight.

An arrest warrant on Robinson for assault on a detention center officer causing injury has been issued.

Robinson previously was arrested in April 2019 and jailed under a $60,000 secured bond for possession of a controlled substance, possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of stolen goods, possession of a weapon by a felon and a probation violation.

In that incident, Robinson allegedly was inside a vehicle that was stopped on Interstate 85 by law enforcement. The officer smelled marijuana and a gun was found in the vehicle. The gun was stolen from South Carolina. The officer also seized cocaine from the vehicle.