'Walking Dead' threat lands Fort Wayne man in jail

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – A Fort Wayne man accused of using a “The Walking Dead” reference in threatening to kill an Allen County Police officer is now facing felony charges.

Allen County prosecutors formally charged 34-year-old Anthony Lidster with two felony counts of intimidation and misdemeanor counts of possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia Thursday.

Lidster is accused of telling an officer he’d remember his name and face and be that officer’s “Negan,” referring to The Walking Dead character who wielded a barbed-wire baseball bat to kill people on the hit television show and comic book.

According to Allen Superior Court documents, police were called to a county home in reference to a domestic battery this past Sunday.

Emergency dispatchers said a woman called them and said a man was sitting on her and “punching his fists together.”

Upon arrival, officers found Lidster outside the home.

While speaking with officers, Lidster said he had no weapons but did have “weed, a bowl, and a grinder in my pockets,” court documents said.

He also is accused of saying he had “tons of weed” inside the home, according to court documents. The woman he had been accused of sitting on then brought all the marijuana from inside the home out to the officers, court documents said.

While officers were transporting Lidster to jail on misdemeanor charges, he is accused of telling one officer he’d be the “first guy he goes to kill when he gets out,” court documents said.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who played the notorious Negan in *The Walking Dead.*

That’s when Lidster is accused of saying he’d remember the officer’s face and name and he would be that officer’s “Negan, referring to the walking dead character (sic),” court documents said.

Negan, played by actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, was known for his bat wrapped in barbed wire which he called Lucille. The character used the bat to kill fan-favorite characters Abraham and Glenn in what many critics called a shocking and “iconic” season 6 cliffhanger and season 7 premiere of the television show.

Once arrested on preliminary charges, Lidster was released on his own recognizance. Now that prosecutors have formally charged him, a new warrant for his arrest has been issued, though it’s not clear whether he’s newly been booked into Allen County Jail.