Man Indicted After Nevada County Shootout With Bureau Of Land Management Ranger, CHP Officer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A Northern California man was indicted Thursday on three charges of assaulting a federal officer and a California highway patrolman during a shootout near a remote campground in June.
Brent Douglas Cole, 61, also was wounded during the confrontation nine miles north of Nevada City.
Cole was indicted by a federal grand jury in Sacramento on charges of assault on a federal officer and assault on someone assisting a federal officer, both while using a deadly weapon that caused injury. He also was charged with discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Cole's attorney, J. Toney of Woodland, did not immediately return telephone and email messages.
Prosecutors said a federal Bureau of Land Management ranger gave Cole a warning for driving his truck on a closed dirt road near the South Yuba River campground. The ranger then found a makeshift campground with two motorcycles, one of them reported stolen and the other with expired tags.
Cole returned as the ranger and the highway patrolman were impounding the motorcycles.
The ranger was shot in the left shoulder and the officer in the right leg. Cole was struck several times. All three survived their wounds.
Authorities could not say why Cole was camped in the area.
He was initially charged in Nevada County, but the FBI said those charges are being dropped in favor of the federal indictment.
The federal charges carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.
