Naked Male Assaults Officers
On Sunday, October 2, 2022, at approximately 9:41 am, Parsons Police Officers were dispatched to the 1600 Block of Wilson. The caller reported that there was a man was on his porch and was taking off his clothes acting strangely.
Sgt Waylon Kepley arrived and found a now completely naked male who was acting delusional and combative. Kepley attempted to arrest the trespassing male for indecent exposure. Lt Jason Ludwig arrived to assist in the arrest. The male was later identified as Roy Cruz Jr with an AKA of Timothy Robinson. At one point, Cruz was gripping onto a wooden pillar on the front porch of the residence. Cruz then began biting the wooden pillar with his teeth. Cruz was kicking, thrashing about, and fighting the two officers.
Cruz while on the front porch rolled crushing a 5-quart jug of motor oil with his naked body. Now covered in motor oil, it made trying to control and handcuff Cruz even harder for the officers.
Sgt Kepley warned Cruz he would be tased if he did not stop fighting. Cruz was tased and this had only limited effect on him. Eventually the officers were able to get Cruz handcuffed.
EMS was called as part of the Parsons Police operating policy when a taser is deployed. While Cruz was still talking in gibberish and thrashing about, he began kicking again when EMS were conducting their evaluation. Lt Ludwig was kicked in the knee and sustained an injury from Cruz.
Officers had to carry Cruz to a patrol car because he refused to walk, and he would thrash about and resist the officers' attempts to place him into a patrol car. EMS continued to monitor Cruz and determined he did not need any medical attention.
Workers from the Union Pacific railroad yard told officers that before this incident occurred that they had removed Cruz from a train engine in the rail yard.
Once at the police department, Cruz became compliant and walked into the detox cell without further incident.
Cruz is currently being held for indecent exposure and battery on a law enforcement officer. Cruz has a long criminal history locally including arrests for burglaries, warrants, probation violation, drug charges, and traffic offenses. Cruz has had 19 contacts and arrests in Parsons since 2012.
"Obviously, we had an individual exhibiting signs of illegal drug intoxication placing citizens and officers at risk of assault," said Deputy Chief Dennis Dodd. "Aside from his criminal conduct, this individual is a habitual local offender, and we hope that the courts will eventually remove this offender from our streets. Police officers respond to far too many repeat offenders who enjoy a revolving door of justice after our officer's arrest and get them off the streets, even if its for a short period of time."
Parsons Police Chief Robert Spinks said, "this is not the first time that Cruz has been connected to drugs, assaultive behavior or placing the community at risk. He is a danger to the community as a habitual offender who needs to be incarcerated for his illegal acts or confined to a mental institution because of his historic struggle with illegal drugs. Cruz is an example of a broken system in Kansas that fails to hold the habitual criminals accountable, and which fails to have a system of incarcerated detoxification and mental health services to change behavior. Instead, communities like Parsons across the state are plagued by individuals just like Cruz that are allowed to place citizens and emergency responders at senseless risk."
Citizens are advised 'See It! Hear It!! Report It! and to use caution around suspicious individuals they observe in their neighborhoods, in alleys or trolling the community late at night. Whenever citizens observe the suspicious, we want them to notify the police. While not every offender can be removed from the community nor is there always probable cause to support an arrest, every contact made by police is documented and assists in building a trail that can assist with deterring, displacing and eventually developing probable cause for future arrests.
Last year the Parsons Police Department made 681 arrests that included 177 felony arrests. While crime was down in 2021, the police department relies upon a community that keeps its eyes open to prevent crime.
This continues to be an on-going investigation and citizens are encouraged to "See It, Hear It, Report It." If anyone has any further information on this incident or any other criminal activity, please contact the Parsons Police Department at 421-7060 or call the Tip Line at 421-7057 or email at tips@parsonspd.com.
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