Hutchinson man pleads guilty to assaulting police officer

A Hutchinson man has pleaded guilty to the assault of a police officer that was captured in part on video in April.

Court records show 61-year-old Luke Oeltjenbruns entered guilty pleas to first-degree and second-degree assault on Wednesday.

A criminal complaint states two Hutchinson police officers were called to the Menards on Montreal Street at about 1:50 p.m. on April 14 for a reported assault of a store employee. Surveillance video showed Oeltjenbruns was pushing a cart filled with long pieces of lumber when a Menards employee stopped near his cart. Oeltjenbruns then began jabbing the employee with a piece of wood.

When officers attempted to stop Oeltjenbruns, who was in his truck, he didn’t stop and continued driving away slowly. One of the officers then approached Oeltjenbruns’ truck and got onto the truck’s running board. The complaint states Oeltjenbruns closed the officer’s arm in the window, drove his truck into squad cars and then took off on Highway 15 with the officer still trapped on the truck.

Eventually, officers stopped the truck and arrested Oeltjenbruns.

The officer was taken to a hospital and received eight metal staples on his head. He also suffered a large abrasion on his arm that was trapped in the window.

Oeltjenbruns is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 24.