Deputies assaulted by naked man

GAINESVILLE - Two Hall County Sheriff's deputies suffered minor injuries after being attacked by a naked man in north Hall County Wednesday afternoon.

While not confirmed, authorities said it appears the man, 38 year-old Keary Maurice Nicely, was under the influence of synthetic marijuana.

According to Sheriff's Sgt. Stephen Wilbanks, deputies responded to a 4:00 p.m. call of a man acting strangely in the area of Bill's Circle. They found Nicely, completely naked and behaving irrationally, according to Wilbanks.

It was then that investigators said Nicely attacked the deputies. Wilbanks said authorities used pepper spray, then a Taser and batons to defend themselves. Those measures had no immediate effect on Nicely, according to authorities.

Following the confrontation, Nicely allegedly got into Lake Lanier, grabbed onto a dock and refused to come out of the water.

A 45-minute standoff ensued, with more deputies, boats from the Hall County Fire Department and Georgia Department of Natural Resources called in.

Wilbanks said because of Nicely's aggression and refusal to give up, more non-lethal measures were used. He said a couple of SWAT team members with training in such devices used shotgun bean-bag rounds, 40mm foam impact rounds, and specialized concussion grenades with rubber pellets to bring Nicely into custody.

Nicely and the two initial responding deputies ended up at Northeast Georgia Medical Center. Wilbanks described the deputies' injuries as minor. He said Nicely's injuries weren't major.

"This case is a prime example of the unpredictable and sometimes dangerous work our deputies face every day," Sheriff Gerald Couch said.

Wilbanks said Nicely has since been released from the hospital and has been charged with felony obstruction of officers, misdemeanor obstruction of officers, terroristic threats, disorderly conduct, and providing false information to officers.

"If the information developed during the initial investigation holds true, this will be yet another example of the volatility of synthetic drugs and the danger they create for our community," Couch added.

Authorities didn't immediatly know why Nicely was in the Bill's Circle area. Wilbanks said he gave deputies a Cornelia home address.

Wilbanks said Nicely's fingerprints were run through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System and confirmed. Wilbanks said he also uses the alias Kelly Nicely.

EDITOR'S NOTE: On November 15, 2013, the Hall County Sheriff's Office issued a statement saying that the man arrested in this incident was Kelly Maurice Nicely, the twin brother of Keary Maurice Nicely. The suspect was misidentified by authorities.