Man who kicked out patrol car window gets year in jail

A 31-year-old Gardnerville man, who claimed he was being harassed by the Washoe Tribal police and kicked out a window in a Douglas County sheriff's patrol car, was sentenced Monday to a year in jail.

District Judge Michael Gibbons sentenced Marcel Wyatt to a year after he pleaded guilty to interfering with a public officer, a gross misdemeanor.

He was arrested last year after police were called to his home by his wife who said he kicked in the front door and was alone with their two young children.

The children eventually were passed unharmed through a bedroom window after Wyatt refused to leave the house.

In arguing for jail time instead of probation, prosecutor Karen Dustman pointed to Wyatt's 25 prior misdemeanor convictions.

Wyatt claimed the number was misleading and said most were dismissed or filed by tribal police.

"There a little too gung-ho when it comes to me," he said. "That's why I moved off the reservation."

Wyatt said he never posed a threat to his children or the officers at the scene. He said he kicked out the patrol car window because he believed the tribal police posed a threat to his family.

Gibbons told Wyatt he thought a recommended nine-month sentence was too lenient.

"I think the probation officer was fooled," Gibbons said. "You have numerous convictions for crimes of violence even though they are misdemeanors. They (tribal police) may have started something, but you ended it."

He gave Wyatt credit for 71 days in custody and ordered him to pay $322.85 restitution.