I.F. man who broke officer’s hand and hurt another during DUI arrest gets probation
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IDAHO FALLS – An Idaho Falls man who injured two officers, fracturing one of their hands, while being arrested for drunk driving has been sentenced on Tuesday.
Bradley Cory Willard, 36, was arrested in August and charged with felony DUI, two felony counts of assault upon certain personnel and misdemeanor resisting arrest.
The 36-year-old accepted a plea agreement in December where he’d agree to plead guilty to one count of assault and a misdemeanor DUI charge. The state dismissed the second assault and resisting charges.
Senior District Judge Stephen Dunn sentenced Willard to five years of probation after suspending his three-year fixed sentence and two-year indeterminate sentence.
According to the affidavit, on Aug. 17, at around 2 a.m., an officer with the Idaho Falls Police Department pulled over a red pickup truck at Cedric’s Restaurant near the intersection of West Broadway Street and North Utah Avenue.
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The cause for the stop was the officer seeing the truck was over the stop line at the intersection of Memorial Drive and West Broadway Street before turning into the wrong lane.
The driver was Willard, who smelled like alcohol and had bloodshot and glossy eyes. The officer asked him if he had been drinking twice, but he did not answer any questions and avoided eye contact.
The officer had Willard get out of the truck, and he later admitted that he had been drinking. Willard agreed to do a sobriety test but failed.
A check of Willard’s criminal history by the officer showed he was on his third DUI instance within the past 10 years, meaning this traffic stop was a felony DUI stop.
The affidavit states Willard had been previously arrested and convicted of DUIs in Farmington, Utah, and Madison County.
He refused to take a breathalyzer test and was handcuffed by the officer and informed he was under arrest.
According to the affidavit, Willard had become “aggressive and resisted arrest” and was taken to the ground, but Willard grabbed the officer’s left hand and twisted.
The officer reported the maneuver “caused great pain, and I could immediately tell something was wrong.”
During the scuffle, the man also injured the right hand of a second officer.
Willard “head-butted” the first officer while they attempted to get him into the police car.
The officers were later diagnosed at a local hospital for their injuries. The first officer suffered a fractured hand, and the second was diagnosed with a right-hand muscle sprain.
Willard was then booked into the Bonneville County Jail, and a blood draw search warrant was ordered.