A 24-year-old man tried to avoid being arrested Wednesday evening by locking himself in a car for more than 30 minutes.
It didn’t work — police officers sprayed him with pepper spray through the car window, then used force to arrest him Wednesday night in the parking lot of a Mendenhall Valley church.
“He refused to get out (of the car),” Juneau Police Department spokeswoman Erann Kalwara said, saying that police later learned that he had a $1,000 warrant out for his arrest for failing to appear in court on a reckless driving charge. “Officers were trying to make him comfortable to get out of the vehicle. … He did have something that could have been used as a weapon in the vehicle.”
Kalwara said the case began around 5 p.m. when officers saw the man, Travis Richards, in what looked like an alteration with a woman at the intersection of Glacier Highway and Engineers Cutoff Road.
According to a JPD release, Richards ran away when officers followed him in a patrol car to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints parking lot. He jumped into a silver Mazda in the parking lot and locked himself in.
Kalwara said the car was not Richards’, but he had permission from the owner to drive it and he had the keys.
After 30 minutes of negotiations (Kalwara would not reveal the specifics of the conversation between Richards and officers), police decided to use pepper spray to remove him from the vehicle. One of the car windows was covered in plastic and police were able to use that as an entryway for the pepper spray.
Kalwara would not say what type of possible weapon Richards had with him that forced the police action. She did specify, however, that it was not a knife or firearm. A city attorney in court Thursday said the weapon was a baton, similar to the ones police carry.
In a press release, JPD described Richards as aggressive with officers upon being forced out of the vehicle. Police then forced him on the ground and restrained him with handcuffs, police said.
Richards sustained “minor” abrasions during the altercation. Capital City Fire/Rescue evaluated Richards and helped remove the pepper spray. He was taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital for a medical evaluation and then taken to Lemon Creek Correctional Center, JPD said.
No officers were harmed during the arrest. The woman Richards was originally seen with during the disturbance was also not mentioned in the report as injured.
On Thursday, Richards made his first appearance in court and was visibly upset. He had an abrasion on the left side of his forehead.
He also denied the charges, interrupting Juneau District Court Judge Keith Levy several times during the proceeding and used foul language in the courtroom. He began crying and said it would be too “painful” to return to LCCC.
City and Borough of Juneau Municipal Attorney Sherri Layne argued for bail, saying that Richards smoked cigarettes while ignoring the police and listened to music in the car.
Levy set an all cash bail of $2,000, half appearance and half performance.
After court, Layne described the circumstances surrounding Richards’ underlying reckless driving charge.
“He was doing donuts around someone that was on a bicycle and he ultimately ended up hitting that person,” Layne said in an interview, adding that Richards did not have a valid license at the time either. “Mr. Richards should not have been driving, let alone hitting someone who was standing or on a bicycle.”
According to online court records, Richards has prior convictions for misdemeanor assault (2015), larceny (2011) and misconduct involving a controlled substance (2010), all while in Juneau. He was also convicted for misdemeanor theft in Ketchikan in 2012.
• Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or paula.solis@juneauempire.com.
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