Brawl with police after laundry detergent theft gets Columbus man 10 years in prison
First Anthony Crews smashed through the glass door of a dollar store to steal three bottles of cheap laundry detergent, then he ran from police, and then he fought two officers trying to subdue him, authorities said.
Both officers were left with injuries, and Crews was left facing multiple charges in a case that started with stealing detergent and ended with his being sentenced Monday to serve 10 years in prison and 20 on probation.
The trouble began at 4:20 a.m. March 11, 2019, a rainy night when Crews hurled a football-sized hunk of concrete through the door of the Family Dollar store at 2126 Buena Vista Road, setting off the alarm and spurring an immediate police response.
Lt. Joseph Hart got there just as Crews was leaving with three bottles of detergent, a household necessity easily resold at curbside flea markets, investigators said. When Hart ordered Crews to stop, he ran, ducking into a back yard.
The yard was so dark Hart had to use a flashlight affixed to his pistol to find Crews, who was crouching under a stairwell, authorities said.
As Hart approached, Crews lunged at him, trying to wrest the gun away, police said. Hart tried to radio for help, but Crews kept clawing away the transmitter affixed to the officer’s uniform.
Finally a second officer, Cpl. James Overby, came to Hart’s aid, but Overby broke his wrist jumping a fence to get there. After a fight that lasted more than four minutes, Crews finally was subdued. Hart was left with minor injuries such as scrapes and bruises.
Crews initially was charged with three counts of obstructing police and one each of smash-and-grab burglary, simple battery against a police officer, trying to remove an officer’s weapon and second-degree criminal damage to property.
He was set to go to trial Monday before Judge Maureen Gottfried, but defense attorney Angela Morelock and prosecutor Robin King worked out a deal in which he pleaded guilty to one obstruction charge plus the burglary and criminal damage counts.
Besides sentencing him to 20 years with 10 to serve, Gottfried banned him from Family Dollar.
Crews, 53, had a criminal history that included breaking into a car in 2002, theft in 2012, second-degree burglary and possessing tools for the commission of a crime in 2015, and possessing cocaine in 2016, according to court records.
This story was originally published February 3, 2020 at 3:47 PM.