Lawyer ‘used racial slurs on fire victims who rejected his legal aid and punched cops’

A lawyer reportedly lost his cool after offering to provide legal aid to neighbors whose apartment complex caught on fire – and getting rejected. Attorney Adam Kehrwald approached residents who evacuated the burning Regency Woods Apartments in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday, officials said.

The group declined his offer, at which point Kehrwald apparently grew angry and threatening.

‘He started using the racial slurs, and then eventually stated that he was going to go get a firearm and return,’ West Des Moines Police Sgt Jason Heintz told KCCI. ‘So, our officers decided to intervene at that time.’

Kehrwald’s threats mounted and Paula Black, who said she has known him for a year, became fearful.

‘We tried to calm him down, me and another girl, and I told, “Adam, please don’t talk like that. That’s not nice,”’ Black told the TV station. ‘Then he went around the corner and started yelling at all those people.’

Kehrwald did not stop at verbal threats. The lawyer began punching police officers who tried to arrest him, according to Heintz.

‘When they went to place him into custody, he began to fight,’ the sergeant said. ‘He struck a couple of the officers in the face with a fist and an elbow, and then he also assaulted a third female officer that we had on-scene before they were able to take him into custody.’

Kehrwald faces charges including abusive epithets and assaulting a peace officer causing serious injury. The ordeal was captured on police body cameras.

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