Law-enforcement officers lead Scott Powell to a police car on April 27, 2012, after he was arrested on suspicion of shooting a city police department mobile speed-enforcement vehicle. Clyde Mueller/The New Mexican
Law-enforcement officers lead Scott Powell to a police car on April 27, 2012, after he was arrested on suspicion of shooting a city police department mobile speed-enforcement vehicle. Clyde Mueller/The New Mexican
The now 65 year-old Santa Fe man who was arrested last spring after he was caught on camera shooting a gun at an unmanned speed-enforcement vehicle has been sentenced to 18 months of unsupervised probation after agreeing to a plea deal Wednesday.
Scott Powell pleaded no contest to one felony related to the shooting: criminal damage to property. He also pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors: resisting, evading or obstructing an officer, and one count of careless driving related to his fleeing from officers who were trying to apprehend him about a week after the incident.
District Attorney Angela Pacheco said her office agreed to drop a misdemeanor charge of negligent use of a firearm as part of the plea agreement in order to secure Powell’s no-contest plea on the felony criminal damage charge.
The agreement requires Powell to pay $4,227 in restitution for the damage caused by at least three bullets that struck the specially equipped SUV while it was parked one night in April 2012 next to Bishops Lodge Road north of the downtown area.
Prior to his arrest, police released a video of the incident that showed a man wearing a nightshirt, later identified as Powell, get out of a gray Audi and discharge five rounds from a revolver aimed at the SUV, which bore Santa Fe Police Department markings. YouTube clips of the video soon appeared on websites around the country.
After investigators identified Powell as the suspect, the north-side resident led officers on a chase through downtown Santa Fe before he was taken into custody. He was later released on bond and underwent medical and mental evaluations.
Court documents said that during an interview with police, Powell denied shooting at the SUV but admitted he had received a citation generated by radar and camera evidence from the unmanned vehicle and had attempted to dispute the citation but had received “no due process, which was unconstitutional.”
In seeking Powell’s release on bond, his lawyer, Dan Cron, told a judge Powell had been suffering from cancer, depression, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
The revolver Powell used in the crime will be destroyed, according to the terms of the agreement, and Powell will be barred from owning or possessing any other firearms while on probation.
Cron said Friday that he felt the plea deal was “very appropriate.”
“He’s never been in trouble before,” the lawyer said. “This was an aberration in his life. He wanted to make it right and be the law-abiding citizen he’s always been.”
Cron said his client no longer lives in Santa Fe, but Cron declined to say where Powell lives now.
