Howard is a skinny cop. His shift supervisor claimed he gave Howard two bricks to put in his pockets so he wouldn’t blow away. Others said Howard had to jump up and down on the rubber mat outside the federal courthouse to make the doors open. Maybe they exaggerated some.

To Howard’s credit, and in spite of his slender build, he never lost a prisoner. That included Charles in Bellemead Estates who broke bad on Howard during a domestic disturbance.

Neighbors called the sheriff after they heard banging and screaming coming out of Charles’ trailer. When Howard got there Charles had not laid a finger on his live-in girlfriend, so he was not in danger of arrest.

What made Charles angry was the fact that "somebody called the law." That made him start cursing and throwing furniture. Howard and another deputy ducked a couple times to avoid getting hit by flying chairs.

Howard arrested Charles, but placing him in custody is another matter. Picture Howard (5-foot, 10-inches tall and 165 pounds) handcuffing Bad Charles (6-foot, 3-inches tall and 265 pounds), especially if Charles does not want to be arrested.

Howard did handcuff Charles’ hands behind his back just like the book says. Next, Howard put his prisoner in the back of the patrol car and shut the door. Things were looking pretty serene. But the serenity ended seconds later when Bad Charles kicked the patrol car’s window out with his bare feet.

A split second later, here comes Bad Charles diving out the glassless window head first-and with his hands now cuffed in front of him.

Before the deputies could react, Charles scrambled up a sweetgum tree and perched on a limb 10 feet high. There he sat-bare foot and bare chested-cursing like a drunken sailor.

Moments later, as the deputies pondered their next move, Charles came nose-diving out of the tree, narrowly missing Howard. His impact on the hard clay took the fight out of Bad Charles. Now he was just plain Charles.

On the ride to the county jail, Charles complained about the blast of cold air coming in through the window he’d kicked out. Howard just smiled: "It’s wintertime, Charles, it’s supposed to be cold."