Bail is set at $50,000 for an Onalaska man accused of assaulting two people while he was “blackout drunk” Tuesday night.
Ryan Lewis Croker, 21, was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail at 1 a.m. on Wednesday, March 27, after his brother called the police earlier that night. The brother reported Croker was drunk and had assaulted a woman at an address in the 100 block of Maple Ridge in Onalaska. Croker’s brother told dispatchers Croker also assaulted him when he tried to intervene, according to charging documents filed in Lewis County Superior Court.
Both victims sustained minor injuries from the assault.
Croker is also accused of threatening to kill the woman “multiple times during these altercations,” according to court documents. The woman reported she “believed that (Croker) had access to a firearm either in (his) house or in his vehicle.”
The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office has since confirmed there is an active protection order against Croker that prohibits him from possessing firearms, according to court documents.
Deputies have reportedly since found a .308 Savage rifle in the trunk of Croker’s vehicle.
When deputies with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office responded to the Maple Ridge address, they reportedly found Croker inside “yelling at his grandmother, who was still in the residence,” according to court documents. He reportedly “refused to come out” and, when deputies obtained a search warrant and entered the house, he “actively resisted and refused to get in the patrol vehicle,” according to court documents. Deputies reportedly “had to use force to get Ryan to comply.”
He was allegedly “belligerent” during transport and at the jail, where he reportedly “had to be physically removed from the patrol vehicle” and “refused to cooperate … for booking.”
Croker was charged Wednesday, March 27, with two counts of fourth-degree assault, one count of harassment, threat to kill, and one count of second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
“I am concerned with the allegations here not only for the community safety risk ... But the fact that he fought every step of the way, even into the jail,” Judge J. Andrew Toynbee said during Croker’s preliminary hearing in Lewis County Superior Court on Wednesday.
Toynbee chose to set Croker’s bail between the prosecution’s request of $75,000 and the defense’s request of $25,000.
Toynbee cited Croker’s lack of criminal history and concerns over Croker's lack of compliance as reasons for setting bail between the two requests.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, April 4.
No-contact orders protecting both victims are in effect. Croker’s conditions of release include a provision prohibiting him from consuming alcohol until the case is resolved.
