LOUISVILLE, Ky.—A Kentucky Powerball winner was arrested and charged with kicking a police officer in Florida days after he won a $167 million jackpot.
James S. Farthing, who goes by Shannon, found out on Sunday, April 27, that he won the state’s biggest ever jackpot after his mother called him, according to a media release from the Kentucky Lottery. The lottery said Farthing and his mother were splitting the winnings.
But Farthing, 50, was in a Florida jail by midweek, according to media reports. He has been charged with battery of a police officer and resisting arrest after a Pinellas County Sheriff’s deputy was attempting to break up a fight between Farthing and another person in a hotel when Farthing kicked the officer in the face, according to a police report written on April 29. The officer told Farthing to turn around put his hands behind his back, but Farthing attempted to flee, the police report said….