Man denies using child as human shield in fight with police

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – A West Virginia man denies using his 7-year-old daughter as a human shield.

The Dominion Post reports a deputy followed a girl’s screams outside a lake house in February and spotted 42-year-old Scott Alan Shahan and his daughter offshore, on a floating dock that had been untethered.

A criminal complaint says Shahan threatened to kill himself and his daughter, jumped in the lake, got naked and fought with a deputy and a trooper who rowed out to save them.

Shahan was released, then arrested for domestic assault, escaped, was re-arrested, sent to a mental health facility and is now jailed in Kentucky on unrelated charges.

His attorney Lance Rollo asked Monday for mental health evaluation after entering a not-guilty plea to child abuse and attempting to disarm a police officer.

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Information from: The Dominion Post, http://www.dominionpost.com