COVINGTON - A police officer and the man he was trying to arrest fell head first off a front porch to a sidewalk 8 feet below during a struggle Saturday.

        Officer Nick Klaiss was responding to a domestic-dispute call. Debra Lanham, 37, had agreed to meet estranged husband, John, at the house at 1218 W. Pike St. to discuss their relationship, police said.

        The meeting led to a quarrel, and Mrs. Lanham called police. Officer Klaiss arrived around 3:30 p.m. While trying to arrest Mr. Lanham - who was wanted on an outstanding warrant for parole violations - the two men got into an altercation and fell over the railing.

        “(Mr. Lanham) was pushing Officer Klaiss back across the porch,” said Sgt. Teal Nally, Covington Police Department spokesman. “As he went over the railing, he grabbed Officer Klaiss. Then the guy fell on top of Nick.”

        Officer Klaiss, 23, was being treated for a broken collarbone, sore ribs and scrapes at University Hospital, police spokesman Sgt. Teal Nally said.

        “We often are in physical confrontations, but you fall 8 feet onto concrete, and that's a life-threatening situation,” Sgt. Nally said.

        Mr. Lanham was able to flee the scene. He was captured about a half-hour later in woods at the end of Hinde Street, near the 12th Street ramp off Interstate 75. He was handcuffed to a stretcher and transported to St. Elizabeth Medical Center North, where he was treated and released.

        Mr. Lanham faces pending charges of third-degree assault, fleeing in the first degree and the outstanding parole violation - all felonies, Sgt. Nally said.

        Officer Klaiss has been on the force for about two years. Before turning 21, he served as a cadet.

        In 1998 Covington Officer Mike Partin fell to his death while chasing a suspect across Clay Wade Bailey Bridge.

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