A man assaulted cars and officers when he went on a rampage on Sycamore Road on Wednesday while being transported by his family to get mental help.

The incident took place at about 11:10 a.m. and apparently involved a man who had been arrested the day before in another incident.

Wednesday, he caused a panic when he assaulted motorists and officers on Sycamore Road in front of Keith’s Chevron. The suspect had just been released on bond on earlier charges.

Responding officers reported they saw the suspect with a stick in each hand, according to police reports. An officer asked the suspect to put down the sticks and come to talk to him. After failing to comply to several requests to put the sticks down and talk to the officer, the officer was attacked by the suspect with the sticks. The officer suffered a cut on his lower right arm that required stitches to close. The officer then resorted to using Mace in an attempt to control the suspect and tackled him.

The suspect, who was identified, as Nevel George Thomas, 22, 320 N. Beech St., had been picked up the night before for resisting arrest by fleeing, failure to yield to blue lights and sirens, expired tag, no seatbelt and driving while license suspended, according to reports.

After making bond on Wednesday, Thomas’ family is reported to have been taking him to get mental treatment when he jumped out of the van in which they were carrying him and began behaving erratically on the busy road, said Picayune Police Chief Jim Luke. He said the family was trying to calm Thomas down, but the suspect would not listen.

Prior to officers arriving on scene, a woman driving along Sycamore Road stopped at Keith’s to allow her child to use the restroom, Luke said. As the woman was driving away from the store, Thomas is reported to have crossed the street in front of her. When the driver stopped to allow Thomas to cross the road, he stopped, and instead of continuing across the road, he hit the rear passenger side part of her vehicle with a stick close to where her child was sitting. She sped away from the scene and headed to the police station. Luke said she will file charges of felony malicious mischief on top of the charges he faces from his interaction with officers.

After being put into custody, Thomas attempted to kick out the rear windows of the patrol vehicle.

For Wednesday’s incident, Thomas was charged by officers with aggravated assault on an officer, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest by fleeing, public profanity and obstructing traffic.