AHWATUKEE, Ariz. — An Ahwatukee man shocked police on Monday after allegedly running through Kyrene de los Cerritos Elementary School at the end of its first day of classes, pushing and nearly running over a principal and later, after fleeing the school, turning a police Taser on three officers.
At about 2:45 p.m., 40-year-old Larry Lee Lawrence tried to drive his black Mercedes to Cerritos to find his significant other who police suspect was picking up her child, Phoenix police Sgt. Frank Matsko said.
On his way, Lawrence allegedly lost control of the car and slammed into a wall in a private residence near Desert Foothills Park.
Witnesses told police they saw Lawrence go home, get a tan-colored sedan and then use that vehicle to tow his Mercedes home, Matsko said.
A street sign witnesses said the Mercedes trampled is missing from the scene of the crash, police said.
At about 3 p.m., Lawrence drove into the parking lot of Cerritos, located at 14620 Desert Foothills Parkway.After parking his car in the Kyrene Altadena Middle School lot next door, Lawrence, wearing only shorts and tennis shoes, entered the school's front doors about 25 minutes after students were dismissed and without signing in at the office, police said.
He was approached by Cerritos Principal Darcy DiCosmo, police said. After DiCosmo asked Lawrence what he was doing at the school, Matsko said, Lawrence shoved her.
At some point, DiCosmo asked someone to call police, said Kelly Alexander, Kyrene school district spokeswoman.
Lawrence soon began running down school hallways - which Alexander said were mostly empty - to find a woman believed to be his girlfriend, Matsko said. He never found her.
DiCosmo followed Lawrence outside as staff and parents looked on, Alexander said.
Eventually, Lawrence prepared to leave the school and DiCosmo ran after him to get his license plate number, police said.
At this time, Stephanie Hayden, whose two children attend Cerritos, said she heard DiCosmo call for help from parents.
Once they got to the Altadena parking lot, Lawrence threatened to run DiCosmo over and DiCosmo had to move to avoid him when he backed up rapidly in an attempt to hit her, Matsko said. Then he drove out of the parking lot.
As police responded to the call, they saw Lawrence and watched as his engine began to smoke, forcing him to get out and start pushing his car.
Before officers could reach him, he hopped back into the car and coasted down the hill to his South 10th Place home, Matsko said.
Lawrence ran into his home before officers could catch him.
As Matsko and others encouraged Lawrence to come out of his home, he opened and slammed his door to taunt police, Matsko said.
When he opened his door enough for police to arrest him, Lawrence apparently grabbed one officer's Taser and deployed it on three - including Matsko - who responded to the scene. None received serious injuries.
After a continued struggle, police arrested Lawrence on suspicion of four counts of aggravated assault, resisting arrest and fleeing the scene of an accident.
He was taken to Chandler Regional Hospital for treatment of minor injuries to his face and then booked into Maricopa County jail on $100,000 bail.
Police are awaiting test results to determine whether Lawrence was under the influence of alcohol or drugs on Monday afternoon, Matsko said.
Tuesday, school officials sent a letter home with students to provide parents with more information about the incident.
Kyrene School District's crisis team is expected to discuss the incident and decide how to respond to future ones like it, Alexander said.
Hayden, who serves as Cerritos' PTO president, said she felt "unnerved" by the situation on Monday. But she said she was impressed with school officials' response to the incident.
"In having to make split second decisions, I think our principal did a really good job," she said. "I think that (Cerritos) parents are really attentive."
Copyright 2008 The Arizona Republic
Article
There is so much hilarity in the smaller details of this story that I had to post it. I envision this all occurring in black and white with no sound except perhaps with Yakety Sax (Benny Hill song) playing the background.
The theme song
![[rofl]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/013.gif "ROFL [rofl]")
![[wink]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/002.gif "Wink [wink]")
