A Seneca Falls man placed on probation after a chaotic, highly publicized 2015 incident is going to prison.
On Monday in Seneca County Court, Judge Dennis Bender sentenced Cole Fletcher, 22, to 1-3 years in prison for violation of probation. District Attorney Barry Porsch said Fletcher violated terms of his probation by being arrested in another state.
Bender placed Fletcher on probation over an April 2015 incident in Waterloo. Fletcher, then 19, was charged with numerous felonies after running into a utility pole on East River Street, then driving away while Waterloo police and emergency responders were trying to help him.
Fletcher pulled into the parking lot of a nearby business, and two officers from the Seneca County Sheriff’s Department who were in the area responded in an unmarked vehicle after hearing a radio call for assistance. One of the officers, Tim Thompson, tried to block the exit with his vehicle. However, Fletcher drove his car into the passenger-side door, preventing Thompson’s partner, Mike Strohm, from getting out.
