A Perry woman was arrested late Monday night after she allegedly fought with an officer of the Perry Police Department who broke into her apartment in order to break up a fight.
Kamie Marie Coles, 29, of 1402 Willis Ave., #2, Perry, was arrested on a charge of interference with official acts.
The incident began shortly after 11:30 p.m. Monday when Perry Police Department officers responded to a report of a domestic disturbance in an apartment at 1402 Willis Ave.
According to court records, the officers arrived in the hallway of the apartment house and “could hear people yelling and screaming at each other” within apartment #2. When no one answered an officer’s knock on the door, the officer “went back out onto the front porch and looked through a window to try to see what was going on.”
Within the apartment, the officer “could see people rolling around, fighting on the floor,” according to court records. Officers tried but failed to kick in the apartment door and to the break a window in the hallway door with a police baton.
An officer then returned to the porch and struck the outside window with the back of his hand “to try to get someone’s attention” in the apartment. The force of the officer’s blow broke the outside window but even “after this happened, they still would not open the door,” so the officer “climbed through the window into the apartment.”
According to court records, the officer tried to speak with Coles after entering the apartment, but “she started to walk away from” the officer. When the officer “grabbed her by the arm to keep her from walking away,” Coles allegedly “began fighting” with the officer, who was able to place Coles in handcuffs only “after fighting for a couple of minutes.”
Another tenant in the apartment house claimed to be awoken “due to my walls rattling because the people in apartment #2 were fighting.” The tenant said, “They refused to answer the door for the cops. We could hear a kid screaming, ‘Get off my mom!’ The cops tried to kick in the door and didn’t succeed, so they broke the window. Then they proceeded to tell the cops that they needed a warrant to enter their place.”
A portion of the incident was captured on body camera video, according to court records.
The Dallas County Sheriff’s office and the Dallas County EMS also responded to the incident.
Coles was issued a citation and released from Perry Police Department custody on her promise to appear Nov. 19 in Dallas County District Court.
Coles was previously convicted of disorderly conduct-fighting or violent behavior in May 2008 and again in October 2012 in Dallas County District Court. She was arrested by the Des Moines Police Department on a charge of harassment of a pubic official in January 2008, but the charge was later dismissed in Polk County District Court.
*A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
