On Tuesday Nicholas Coberley was sentenced to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release. \u00a0According to the Department of Justice prosecutors, 45-year-old Nicholas Coberley of Pollock Pines, attacked seasonal park ranger Chris Cruz during an incident on June 20, 2016.<\/p>\n
The Park Ranger had been called to investigate reports of a man walking in the middle of the road and yelling loudly.<\/p>\n
Coberley apparently jumped into the back of the ranger’s truck and started hitting the passenger compartment with a firefighting tool.<\/p>\n
He then smashed the back window with an axe, climbed into the passenger compartment and put the ranger in a chokehold. At that point Coberley swung an axe at the ranger’s head while the truck was in motion.<\/p>\n
The ranger was able to speak calmly with Coberley and defused the situation. Coberley returned to his home near the park’s boundary and was later arrested.<\/p>\n
Coberley, who was facing 20 years, was sentenced to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were one swing away from killing this guy,\u201d U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez told Coberley.<\/p>\n
According to court documents, Coberley, 45, had been drinking at a friend\u2019s house when they got into an argument and he wandered off into the park \u2013 drunk, barefoot and in the dark.<\/p>\n
When Cruz responded to campers\u2019 complaints at the Warner Valley Campground and drove up on an obviously intoxicated man yelling for help, Coberley thought it was a cab. A few minutes later, Cruz was fighting for his life and saving two \u2013 \u201cmy life and his,\u201d the ranger said in an interview after the sentencing.<\/p>\n
The ranger told investigators he offered Coberley a ride in the bed of his truck, to get him away from the nearly full campground and the nearby and fully occupied Drakesbad Guest Ranch, which is about 6 miles southeast of Lassen Peak as the crow flies.<\/p>\n
As Cruz drove off, Coberley apparently thought he was being kidnapped, his ex-girlfriend said in a letter to the court.<\/p>\n
Cruz suffered a hand injury during the attack, park officials said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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