OKEECHOBEE — An Okeechobee County Sheriff’s deputy responded to Brethren Baptist Church after a vehicle destroyed their property.

Deputy Matthew Huffman was dispatched to the church property at approximately 4 p.m. after Detective Dale LaFlam requested backup. According to Huffman’s report, he met with LaFlam when he arrived and learned the detective had been contacted by citizens in the area that a maroon Chevy Corvette was tearing up the lawn and struck a tree. When LaFlam approached the vehicle and asked the driver, later identified as Craig Gopher, 50, to exit the vehicle, Gopher became belligerent and refused all commands.

When LaFlam removed Gopher from the vehicle, Gopher became combative, but LaFlam was able to wrestle him to the ground. When Huffman and Deputy Ramiro Doval arrived, they witnessed the struggle and helped LaFlam subdue Gopher in wrist restraints. EMS was requested but their services were refused by Gopher.

Dispatch advised Huffman that a maroon sports car had been reported for striking a headstone at the Bassinger Cemetery.

A witness reported seeing a maroon sports car driven by a Native American man with long hair enter the cemetery. When it exited, it had damage he had not seen when it entered.

Gopher refused a breath test and was charged with disfiguring a tomb or monument, leaving the scene of a crash involving damage to property, criminal mischief, reckless driving, resisting an officer with violence, battery on law enforcement and DUI. Bond was set at $18,000.