2 arrested at Comanche Creek after fighting officer
CHICO >> An altercation between two individuals and a Chico Police Department officer at Comanche Creek Greenway resulted in a man and a woman getting arrested Tuesday morning.
The events leading up to Tuesday began March 29, when Chico police officers responded to a report of several vehicles parked with expired registration at 11301 Midway. Officers found several vehicles that were could have been towed immediately because their registration was more than six months expired.
Officers placed a sticker on each of the vehicles’ windows warning the owners they had one week to “bring their vehicle into compliance to avoid being towed,” according to a Chico Police Department press release.
Around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, a Chico police motorcycle officer returned to the location to check expired registration on the previously-marked vehicles. The officer called for a tow on one of the vehicles, more than six months expired, which had been marked the previous week.
Two people,
Andrew
Forbes- Corkill, 33, and Michelle Goodwin, 33, approached the officer and began to argue with him, the release said. The officer said the seven- day warning period had expired, so their GMC SUV was going to be towed.
Goodwin then allegedly jumped in the SUV, started the engine and drove forward “aggressively,” the release stated. The SUV moved about 10 feet before striking a boulder and became stuck by high-centering.
The officer pulled Goodwin from the vehicle, and police say while she resisted, Forbes- Corkill is alleged to have grabbed hold of her free arm and attempted to pull her free from the officers.
As the struggle continued, Goodwin broke free from Forbes- Corkill and allegedly punched the officer, who was wearing a helmet, in the head, according to the release. The officer took Goodwin to the ground around the time additional officers arrived to contain the scene. Officers with the Chico and Chico State University police departments responded in addition to Butte County EMS.
Both Goodwin and Forbes- Corkill were arrested and the vehicle was towed.
Goodwin was arrested on suspicion of striking an officer, resisting arrest, reckless driving, driving while unlicensed, as well as felony no bail warrant. She was booked into the Butte County Jail with a bail amount set at $21,000.
Forbes- Corkill was arrested on suspicion of trying to take someone from police custody and possession of illegal narcotics. He was booked into the Butte County Jail with a bail amount set at $18,000.
Business owners around the Comanche Creek Greenway area have reported a rise in criminal activity in recent months, coinciding with an increased number of unsheltered people moving to the area following a series of enforcement operations forcing them out of other parts of the city.
There have been more than 20 documented crimes in the area between Midway and Park Avenue in the last 12 months, ranging from vehicle theft, larceny, narcotics possession and an outstanding arrest warrant, according to the Chico Police Department’s online crime map.
Additionally, the Chico Fire Department has responded to a number of fires spreading to nearby vegetation in the area, some linked to homeless camps. An early-February fire hospitalized one woman with severe burns.