Cop car kicker gets 20 months
MOSES LAKE — A Moses Lake man has been sentenced for attempting to kick out a window in a patrol car.
Anthony Lucio, 30, of Moses Lake, pleaded guilty in Grant County Superior Court to first-degree attempted malicious mischief while armed. Lucio entered an In Re Barr plea to criminal mischief while armed. An In Re Barr plea indicates the defendant is stating he is not guilty of the crime he is pleading to and there is no factual basis for the charge, but he is pleading to the crime because he believes he faces a substantial risk of being convicted if the case were to go to trial. Grant County Superior Court Judge John Knodell followed a joint recommendation between Deputy Prosecutor Kevin McCrae and defense attorney Tyson Lang and sentenced Lucio to 20 months.
On July 10 the Moses Lake Police Department received a report of a man, Lucio, punching windows in the 100 block of West Broadway Avenue. When officers arrived Lucio was standing outside of a tavern on Broadway Avenue waving his arms and yelling at people inside.
He was agitated and did not cooperate with officers when he was initially contacted. He reportedly acted combative with a officer, which forced the officer to bring him down onto the sidewalk. On the sidewalk Lucio refused to put his arms behind his back and an officer pepper-sprayed him in the face. Lucio eventually complied, but spat in the face of two MLPD officers when he was placed in handcuffs.
He was later placed in the back of a patrol car and started to “violently” kick a window and door inside the car. Lucio was given an additional short burst of pepper spray and was removed from the patrol vehicle. Moses Lake Fire Department personnel arrived at the scene and rinsed Lucio’s eyes, after which he was placed back into a patrol car and started kicking the inside of the car again.
“I opened the opposite door and advised him to stop kicking or he was going to be sprayed again. Moments after I walked away Lucio began violently kicking the door and plastic window shield. Lucio was kicking so hard the entire door was flexing out and I believed he was going to break out the shield,” wrote a officer.
Lucio was pepper-sprayed for a third time and he temporarily stopped kicking the door. He reportedly started screaming and kicking the inside of the patrol vehicle again as he was being transported to the Grant County Jail. The officer wrote that he believed Lucio was under the influence of drugs, as he was talking to himself and sounded as if he was having a conversation in the back of the patrol car.
Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.