Fort Collins police: Transient kicked cop in face

A transient man is accused of trying to take a Fort Collins police officer's Taser, kicking another cop in the face and causing an EMT to get stuck with a needle, according to court records.

Anthony Gaona, 27, went into a hobby shop on Harmony Road about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and asked for a lighter. An employee said he didn't have one, at which time Gaona — reportedly under the influence of some sort of substance — became verbally abusive, police wrote in an arrest affidavit.

Officers responded and found the man sitting by a creek behind the hobby shop.

"He saw me and chugged a 40-ounce bottle of beer," police wrote.

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Another officer arrived, and the man ran across the creek, sparking a brief foot pursuit. Once he was finally contacted, Gaona struggled, leading an officer to deploy a Taser.

He then reportedly tried to grab the device, kicked an officer in the face and another in the leg. And while he was being treated and transported in an ambulance, Gaona spat on another police officer and then caused a Poudre Valley Hospital EMS paramedic to get stuck with a needle.

Gaona was arrested on suspicion of four counts of felony second-degree assault, as well as a single — and rarely cited — count of disorderly conduct for the uttering of offensive language. Bond for this case is set at $10,000, and he is next due in court Thursday.

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This week's alleged assault comes a year after Gaona was arrested for threatening Colorado State University police officers with a hatchet on the riverbank near the CSU Engines and Energy Conversion Lab. Goana reportedly screamed at officers to shoot and kill him and also threatened to kill officers with the hatchet that he pulled from his waistband.

He was sentenced to two years of probation and enrolled in drug court in that case after pleading guilty to second-degree assault in the jail as well as an amended count of threatening officers.

Reporter Jason Pohl covers courts for the Coloradoan. Follow him on Twitter: @pohl_jason.