A 41-year-old man was arrested in Oregon earlier this week after allegedly pointing a gun at an officer during a live nativity scene at a Fort Wayne church last year.
Tyler Leavitt’s arrest comes after Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull issued an arrest warrant for him after he failed to appear for a hearing in the case in July.
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According to the Lane County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon, one of its officers saw a suspicious truck parked on a road in United States Forest Service territory north of Florence, Oregon, at 11:30 p.m. Thursday and made contact with the driver, named as Leavitt.
When authorities became aware of Leavitt’s warrant, they attempted but failed to apprehend him.
Leavitt then raced the vehicle toward a deputy on the road, striking a patrol car.
Fearing for the officer’s life, the office claims a second deputy fired their weapon at Leavitt, but he was not hit.
The first deputy managed to dive out of the way of the truck.
The confrontation resulted in a pursuit in which Leavitt caused substantial damage to neighboring homes before being stopped by a Pursuit Intervention Technique (PIT) maneuver and arrested after another incident.
In Oregon, Leavitt is charged with fugitive from justice (for the warrant), attempting to evade by car, reckless driving, refusing arrest, two counts of assault on a public safety officer, three counts of first-degree criminal mischief, and four counts of dangerous endangerment.
He was booked into Lane County Jail.
