County Commission Chairman Tim Mims was found not guilty Tuesday of assaulting a police officer during a football game in October.

“Police officers from Linden and the Marengo County Sheriff’s Department testified, but none of my witnesses nor I testified. Judge (Wade) Drinkard looked at me and simply said, ‘not guilty,’” Mims said.

Mims had several witnesses prepared to testify on his behalf regarding the Oct. 2 incident in which he was arrested and charged with third-degree assault during a Maplesville-Linden football game in Linden.

Mims’ attorney, Bill Speaks, said the charges had no merit and were dropped.

“They didn’t prove anything,” said Speaks. “Tim had done nothing (wrong), except for trying to calm down a bad situation. When the judge heard the evidence, he knew Tim had done nothing.”

Since the incident, Mims underwent neck surgery to repair ruptured discs he said are the result of the law enforcement officers from Linden and Marengo County knocking him to the ground and jumping on him.

“Nobody was injured but Tim,” Speaks said, who suggested all authorities had to do was tell Mims he was under arrest and he would have followed their directions.

“Knocking somebody to the ground at his age? All they had to say was, ‘you are under arrest,’ and he would have obliged,” said Speaks. “We respect good law enforcement, but I don’t think we are talking about good law enforcement.”

Mims thanked Speaks for his representation. “I want to express my appreciation to Bill Speaks for his excellent handling of my defense,” Mims said.