A man convicted of assaulting a Parker police officer in 2014 was sentenced Thursday to 38 years in the Department of Corrections for 11 charges related to the incident.
Justin Wayne Lamb, 30, was found hiding in a car with expired tags on May 1, 2014. When Parker Police Officer Glenna Villers attempted to remove the keys from the ignition, Lamb began to drive away.
According to the police report, he drove for nearly a quarter mile and reached speeds of 30 mph while Villers hung onto the steering wheel.
After a crash disabled the vehicle’s engine, Lamb fled the scene and hid from police for two hours before being found hiding in a tree with a fake ID and a credit card that didn’t belong to him.
“Officer Villers suffered numerous bruises and swellings all over her body,” police said in a statement. “At the sentencing, the defendant blamed the officer for the incident, stating she should have let go as he was driving.”
Lamb, from Salida, was tried in January and convicted of 11 counts related to assault, reckless driving, leaving the scene, resisting arrest and criminal possession of a financial device.
His 38-year sentence will be served concurrently with a nine-year sentence handed down in 2014 after Lamb pleaded guilty to two felony counts related to an escape charge in Chaffee County.
“In his efforts to flee from justice, Justin Lamb nearly took the life of a police officer who dedicates her life to keeping our communities safe from dangerous criminals like him,” District Attorney George Brauchler said. “He has earned every second of this prison sentence.”
Douglas County Judge Richard Caschette presided over the case.
Anna Gauldin: 303-954-1666, agauldin@denverpost.com
