Man with violent history arrested after police say he threatened person with a knife
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IDAHO FALLS — An Idaho Falls man with a violent history is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Friday after police arrested him for allegedly hitting and threatening a man with a knife.
Tyson Ricky Craig Cook, 30, hit the man and put a knife against his throat while in a truck near Smith RV in Idaho Falls, according to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by EastIdahoNews.com. Cook is charged with felony aggravated battery and misdemeanor resisting arrest.
An Idaho Falls Police officer met with the reported victim on Oct. 25 who told him that he and Cook were driving north on Hitt Road when Cook, an amateur MMA fighter, hit him in the face more than once. The victim said Cook then stopped the vehicle and put a knife against his throat while threatening him, the officer said.
“(The victim) wrote in his report that Tyson said, ‘If I ever go around this lady again that he would kill me,'” according to the probable cause statement.
The victim said he feared for his life because Cook was drunk and under the possible influence of drugs. Police say injuries were on the victim’s face.
Bonneville County Sheriff deputies found Cook at his mother’s home where he denied threatening the man but did say he drove him around. Idaho Falls Police officers found the knife allegedly used in the crime in Cook’s truck. When the officer went to arrest Cook, he refused to get into the patrol car forcing officers to put him in the back.
“At the jail, Tyson refused to get out of the patrol vehicle,” the officer writes. “He said he would not comply and to bring everyone out.” He was eventually booked.
This is Cook’s most recent run-in with the law. In September, a Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputy rushed to his home for a report of a woman yelling for Cook to let her go. The woman told a deputy Cook prevented her from leaving and broke her phone to stop her from calling for help, according to court documents.
He was charged with misdemeanor battery and the deputy said he could not arrest Cook under Idaho law since a law enforcement officer didn’t witness the crime.
Court documents report Cook repeatedly violated a no-contact order between him and the woman in the week before the October knife threat.
The Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office arrested Cook in 2016 after he attacked a woman while driving. Cook hurt two deputies and offered one of them $400 if they released him, according to court documents. Prosecutors charged him with a list of crimes but he ultimately pleaded guilty to felony bribery of municipal or county officers and felony domestic battery inflicting traumatic injury.
District Judge Bruce Pickett sentenced Cook to prison but opted to retain jurisdiction and sent Cook on a rider program with an emphasis on anger management and substance abuse. After the treatment, Pickett placed Cook on five years on felony probation.
If convicted of both of the new charges, Cook could spend up to 15 years in prison and up to one year in jail.
He remains held at the Bonneville County Jail without bond, according to the jail.