A panhandler at a North Main Street convenience store made a mistake ignoring an officer wanting to question him about going from car to car and ended up on the ground near midnight Wednesday night and then on to county jail.

Manteca Police Sgt. Joe Aguilar had driven into the convenience store parking lot in the 500 block of North Main Street in a marked Chevy Tahoe police car and in full uniform when he noticed a subject he recognized as Scott Douglass Swafford, 46, approaching vehicles in the parking lot.

Aguilar said Swafford appeared to be panhandling as he walked next to the driver’s side windows of the vehicles as they attempted to drive out of the lot.  One vehicle actually struck another vehicle as it backed out of a stall as the driver tried to avoid Swafford.

Swafford walked slowly and with an unsteady gait leading Sgt. Aguilar to believe he was intoxicated.  As the officer approached Swafford, the suspect walked away from him with the officer calling out his name several times; he continued to walk away, according to the report.

The sergeant approached the man from behind and grabbed his right wrist as Swafford pulled it away toward the front of his body while allegedly stating, “I’m not arrested!”  Swafford continued to walk through the parking lot with the officer holding onto his wrist.  Aguilar again told Swafford to put his hands behind his back, but Swafford continued to hold his left hand away from him and continued to pull away, walking farther into the parking lot, police said.

Sgt. Aguilar performed a hair pull take down and leg sweep of Swafford, taking him to the ground.

Swafford’s left eye was swollen and bruised as a result of the take down and he had an abrasion to the left side of his face.  Swafford also had an abrasion to his left knee and he complained of pain to his back, neck and left rib area.  He was transported to Doctors Hospital of Manteca where he was treated and medically cleared for booking into the San Joaquin County Jail. He was released from custody later on Thursday.