Lang
1-26-20
A trial date has been pushed back to spring for an Iowa City man shot by police last spring during a crime spree that saw damage to a local business.
35-year-old Michael Cintron-Caceres had his trial set for February 11th earlier this month. On Friday, Judge Paul Miller pushed that date back to April 21st. A case management conference is now set for March 27th.
Cintron-Caceres is facing charges of 1st Degree Criminal Mischief, Assault on Persons in Certain Occupations Using or Displaying a Weapon and Interference with Official Acts While Using or Displaying a Weapon. Iowa City Police say Cintron-Caceres fled from officers who were investigating two burglaries at Pizza Hut on Keokuk Street and The Second Act on Olympic Court around 2:30am on May 9th. Cintron-Caceres allegedly jumped two fences to enter a secured lot of Big Ten Rentals on Boyrum Street, where he hid in a truck. When found, Cintron-Caceres allegedly started the truck and used it to smash into vehicles and equipment in the lot. ICPD officers’ verbal commands, deployment of the police canine and shooting a Taser were ineffective in getting Cintron-Caceres to stop. An ICPD officer fired his weapon at Cintron-Caceres, but he continued to ram the truck. Only after a second officer shot at Cintron-Caceres did he halt his action. Two of the officers’ bullets struck Cintron-Caceres, hitting his right and left shoulders.
The two officers, Alex Stricker and Travis Neeld, have since been cleared of any wrongdoing in the shooting.
Cintron-Caceres is already facing trial in two other cases. On April 30th, he’s accused of threatening a cashier at Romantix and forcing the register open, getting away with $100 cash.
The next day, Cintron-Caceres allegedly wrote a $150 check on a checkbook that wasn’t his, forging the owner’s name and cashing it.
On May 7th, Cintron-Caceres is accused of forcing a cash register open at the Suburban BP Amoco on Keokuk Street, taking about $280 from that location.
Trial in those cases was also pushed back to April 21st.
