Man pleads guilty to assault on officer

A Pocatello man who claimed to be a martial artist pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court to assaulting an officer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Idaho announced.

On May 2, a Fort Hall police officer responded to a report that Lyle Plentywounds Sr., 58, was intoxicated and creating a disturbance at a home on the reservation.

After the officer arrived and determined Plentywounds was in fact intoxicated, the officer tried to gain entry into the home, but was blocked by Plentywounds.

Plentywounds told the officer he was a martial artist and an ex-convict and that he hated cops. The attorney’s office said he then kicked the officer in the chest. When the officer tried to arrest him, Plentywounds struck him in the face with his hand, according to the news release.

The charge of assault on an officer is punishable by up to eight years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000 and up to three years of supervised release. Plentywounds is scheduled to be sentenced in February at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.