Cassandra Casucci (69th Judicial District Attorney”s Office (Tex.))
A Texas woman will spend a few years behind bars for an altercation with a police officer, authorities recently announced.
Earlier this week, Cassandra Leann Casucci, 35, was convicted by a jury of her peers in Moore County on one count of assaulting a peace officer. She was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison.
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The underlying incident occurred on Jan. 24, according to the 69th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, a multi-county prosecutor located in the Lone Star State’s sparsely-populated panhandle region.
On the day in question, officers responded to a disturbance in the parking lot of a store, according to Amarillo-based CBS affiliate KFDA. A complaining witness at the store said they had previously dealt with Casucci and found her intimidating, according to law enforcement.
At the time, the defendant had her two minor children in tow. But the presence of the woman’s children did not lead to a peaceful resolution of the contretemps in the chilly temperatures that day.
Responding officers asked Casucci for her identification, but she declined to cooperate with the request, police said. After that, the officers claimed to have noticed the odor of marijuana emanating from her vehicle and then moved to detain the small family.
That’s when the defendant grew aggressive, police say.
A brief and physical kerfuffle ensued as she pushed a Dumas Police Department sergeant. Eventually, the woman was taken down to the ground. Amid the resulting tangle of bodies, Casucci also attempted to hit him but successfully did land one blow – a kick – to his head.
During the abbreviated melee, Casucci variously taunted the police officer, according to law enforcement. At one point she said “catch me on the streets without that badge” and warned him that he would “be eating dirt soon.”
The woman also told the sergeant he was “going down for this.”
But in the end, the defendant caught the fell blow of the incident – despite testifying during trial that the clash was unintentional.
Under Texas law, Casucci faced a minimum sentence of two years and a maximum of 20 years in prison for the crime.
The defendant is also charged with one count of criminal mischief and a marijuana-related charge, both of which were filed in late February, Moore County court records show.
Law&Crime reached out to authorities in the 69th Judicial District for additional details on this story but no response was immediately forthcoming at the time of publication.
