ANDERSON — A 39-year-old Anderson man glared at two tickets in his hands Wednesday in city court and demanded a jury trial, saying that an off-duty Anderson police officer harassed him.

Sammy Strong of 108 P St. said that he was doing nothing more than waiting from a bus near Anderson Mall about noon Tuesday when Officer Andy Craft detained him, calling for another officer to make the charge of begging or soliciting money.

Wednesday, Craft charged Strong with violating a lifetime trespass notice at the mall.

“I never went inside the mall,” Strong said. “I told that cop that I was waiting on a bus.”

And Strong said he was only asking for the correct time and was not soliciting for money.

“I can’t understand why officers got it in for me,” Strong said. “If I did something, I did it. Don’t try to put charges on me.”

Anderson Municipal Court Judge Ken Mattison allowed Strong to sign a $940 bond and return for the Aug. 20 term of court in spite of previous signature bonds that Strong violated and then failed to return to court.

“I’ll be here,” Strong said. “I don’t want to regress and act immature like I did in the past.”

On May 30, Mattison, hesitating after learning that Strong violated a previous bond by not appearing for a February trial for an unrelated trespassing charge, released Strong from jail with a $722.50 bond, telling him to return for a jury trial on June 18. Strong was charged with public intoxication and trespassing.

“I’ll be here,” Strong said at the May hearing. “Last time, I had a lot of problems. It slipped my mind. I ain’t gonna tell you a bold-faced lie.”

In October, a police officer confronted an intoxicated Strong about 11 p.m. in the Burger King parking lot. Strong, who swung at the officer and missed, was arrested for public disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Prior to being found guilty, Strong told the judge that a new pair of boots made it hard for him to walk. In August 2007, Strong was convicted of shoplifting at Wal-Mart and malicious destruction of city property after urinating in the back of a patrol car.