Garrett Cleaver, 27, Colony, whose confrontation with a police officer led to a manhunt and his subsequent arrest more than a year ago, will be sentenced for his crimes Dec. 17. CLEAVER’S troubles in Allen County began the afternoon of Nov. 21, 2011, when a Humboldt officer stopped a car on Bridge Street when he noticed the occupants weren’t wearing seatbelts. Melissa Elder, 31, was driving the car.
Cleaver pleaded guilty Nov. 28 in Allen County District Court to two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and one count of criminal possession of a firearm.
In exchange for the guilty pleas, other charges of fleeing or eluding a police officer, criminal damage to property and reckless driving were dismissed.
After the car stopped, Cleaver bolted, taking with him an assault rifle. The officer gave chase on foot and in a nearby alley was confronted by Cleaver, who then ran back to the car — Elder was standing outside — jumped in and sped away.
Other officers joined the chase, which wove its way 8 miles to northeast of Humboldt, where Cleaver crashed the car near the intersection of Iowa Road and 2000 Street.
He disappeared into brush and timber.
Allen County Sheriff Tom Williams said local officers learned that Cleaver might be in the Springfield, Mo., area. Missouri officers arrested him at a motel near Springfield Dec. 5, 2011.
Cleaver also faces manslaughter charges related to a fatal traffic accident in Neosho County in 2009. It wasn’t immediately clear if those charges had been resolved.
A call to the Kansas Attorney General’s office in Topeka, which is handling the Neosho County case, was not returned Friday.
Cleaver trial set
