A Cheyenne man is accused of pepper-spraying police officers during a fight, then throwing his glasses at a jail nurse.
Brian Scott Mattert, 49, could face up to 11 years in prison and nearly $12,000 in fines if convicted.
His charges rose Friday to the felony-level Laramie County District Court. Those include:
• On count of felony-level police interference (punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines).
• One count of misdemeanor-level police interference (punishable by up to one year in jail and $1,000 in fines).
• One count of simple assault (up to $750).
An evidentiary affidavit by Cheyenne Police Department Officer Talmage Peden says CPD Officers Matthew Spradley and Jakob Jones responded March 4 to the 1800 block of Converse Avenue for a traffic complaint.
The report was of a gray Chrysler sedan with Wyoming plates that had hit a traffic sign. They arrived to find a woman, about 62 years old, sitting in the driver’s seat with the vehicle still in drive, the document says.
The affidavit says officers tried to conduct a driving-under-the influence investigation, but Mattert approached to within 10 feet of the officers with his left hand in his pocket, demanding to know “what the hell” had just happened.
Spradley stopped the DUI investigation to speak with Mattert, who kept “verbally engaging” officers, the document says.
Peden wrote that Mattert argued about the vehicle being parked in his driveway.
Spradley told Mattert to leave, and the man went into the apartment he shares with the woman suspected of driving under the influence, says the document.
The officers kept investigating the DUI while Mattert stood in his doorway and yelled racial slurs toward them, the affidavit says.
Officers called for additional units so they could finish their case, reportedly.
Mattert then left the apartment and tried getting into the driver’s compartment of the woman’s vehicle, and officers moved to place him under arrest, wrote Peden.
When they told him to turn around and put his hands behind his back, Mattert backed away from them instead, the affidavit says. And when they laid hands on him, they all fell to the ground together.
Pepper Spray
They fought to gain control of his hands.
Mattert produced a black keychain-sized container of a chemical agent believed to be pepper spray, says the affidavit. He sprayed it over his right shoulder toward the officers, and it hit Spradley in the left side of his face, the document adds.
It got into Spradley’s left eye, nose and mouth, and glossed his forehead, wrote Peden.
“He felt something hit his face,” added Peden, “and smelled the pepper spray and began to feel burning on his face within seconds of the pepper spray hitting him.”
The affidavit says Jones got a “secondary” blast, burning his right eye and his forehead.
Spradley deployed his taser, incapacitating Mattert’s neuromuscular system, the document says.
Though ordered not to move, Mattert said “no” and moved to stand, so Spradley tased him again, Peden wrote.
“While Mattert was being handcuffed he asked why officers were ‘doing this shit,’” the officer wrote, adding that the personnel on scene explained that Mattert had pepper sprayed officers.
A Laramie County sheriff’s deputy also suffered secondary exposure. Peden noticed on scene the deputy’s nose was running and the skin on his face looked red and puffy, says the document.
About two hours later, Peden noticed Spradley’s face was still red and puffy. Spradley said it was burning, the affidavit relates.
When law enforcement officers got Mattert to the jail and a deputy told the man to change into jail clothes, Mattert “threw his glasses across the booking area, hitting the jail nurse … on her forehead between her eyes,” Peden noted. “She was not injured.”
Mattert could not be reached Monday via his listed phone number or Facebook account.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
