FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 13, 2016
Contact: Chuck Laszewski, Media Coordinator, 612-348-5580
A jury took about two hours to convict a Brooklyn Park man
for attacking a police officer, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced
Wednesday.
The jury convicted Lance Carr, 25, of first-degree assault.
His sentencing was set for June 17 and Freeman said his prosecutor will be
asking the judge to impose the 10 year mandatory minimum sentence for assault
on an officer with deadly force.
“We’re very pleased with the result,” Freeman said. “This
was a horrendous assault on a police officer. It was quite an altercation for a
long period of time. It’s fortunate that the officer was not hurt any more than
he was.”
The assault was caught on the squad car’s video camera and
was shown to the jury. According to the criminal complaint and court testimony,
Brooklyn Park Police Officer Sean Hyman responded to a complaint of loud noise
coming from a car outside of some townhomes about 12:20 a.m. Nov. 29.
Hyman talked to Carr, learned his name, made a check and
determined there was a felony arrest warrant for him. Hyman ordered Carr out of
the car and had Carr’s hands behind his back for cuffing when Carr suddenly
turned and threw a punch at the officer. Although the punch missed, Carr
grabbed the officer and they fell to the ground.
For the next three minutes, the two men were locked in a
violent struggle, with Carr trying to grab the officer’s gun while punching,
elbowing and strangling the officer. Officer Hyman, meanwhile, was trying to
keep the gun in his holster which left him vulnerable to Carr’s attack. During
the struggle, the gun fired and debris flew into the air.
Other officers arrived and finally were able to subdue Carr.
Officer Hyman then collapsed and was taken away on a stretcher.
Carr’s defense attorney argued that the charge was too
severe and it should only have been a fourth-degree assault.
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Look for more news on the Hennepin County Attorney's Offices website at www.hennepinattorney.org/news/news.
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