An Oregon woman was jailed for 10 years for shooting at police officers who were trying to help her with her dogs after they arrested her.
Yvette Lares Garcia attacked the officers with a handgun as they attempted to take her pets to an animal control shelter after she told them she was worried about them following her arrest.
Despite being handcuffed, she managed to grab a gun as she told officers she was getting leashes at her home for her two American Bully XL dogs.
A gunfight, which was captured on bodycam video, then broke out with Garcia shooting one officer before being hit by return fire herself.
Garcia, 37, was shot multiple times and suffered severe injuries in her leg, spine, arm and abdomen, the court was told.
Sgt Travis Hill was eventually forced to retire from the Gladstone police force as a result of injuries he suffered in the firefight.
“We treated you with the utmost dignity and respect,” he said in his victim impact statement. “My kids don’t understand how or why you would do something that causes me so much pain. They have watched as I’ve fought through the physical pain and discomfort every single day.”
Garcia pleaded no-contest to aggravated attempted murder, and guilty to first-degree assault and attempt to commit a Class B felony.
Clackamas County Circuit Judge Cody Weston said Garcia will be required to serve an additional three years on parole and pay $50,000 in restitution.
“I turned a great act of kindness and humanity into something horrific. You were able to see my anguish over my fur babies and went out of your way to help me,” she told the court.
“I remember you relating to me with your love of your dogs. That stays with me and I think about that all the time.”
Garcia was originally arrested after she left a gym because she had a warrant in Texas for felony first-degree theft.
Prosecutors say that she is accused of allegedly embezzling $1.4m from an oil company where she worked in Ector County, Texas.
Garcia’s defence attorney, Michael Romano, said in court that his client was suicidal when the incident took place last November.
“Her plan was to die at home, having law enforcement shoot her, that’s why she didn’t put the gun down in the stairwell,” Mr Romano said.
“She wanted law enforcement, with all due respect, to finish the job. Her plan was to commit suicide by cop. It’s not a justification, certainly not an excuse, but it is an explanation.”
