GEORGETOWN, NY — A wanted Central New York man Monday tried to get away from police on a farm tractor, driving it into an armored police car and running into woods, deputies said.
On May 16, deputies went to the home of Michael S. DeBottis, 37, of Georgetown, to arrest him on a warrant, said Samantha Field, a spokesperson for Madison County. DeBottis was wanted for “domestic-related offenses,” out of Broome County.
DeBottis managed to get in a car and flee, Field said. The Madison County Sheriff’s Office asked the public for help finding DeBottis but also told the public not to approach him.
On Monday, deputies from Broome County and Madison County went to his home. DeBottis ran to a farm tractor on the property and hopped in, starting the police chase, she said.
During the pursuit he used the bucket on the tractor to hit an armored police car, damaging it, she said.
Eventually, he managed to evade police by going into a wooded area, she said.
The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office helicopter, Air 1, responded to help search the woods.
DeBottis was found under a boat in the woods off Route 80, she said. He was then taken into custody and taken to Hamilton Hospital for dehydration, she said.
Once he is released from the hospital, he will be arraigned in Madison County on:
- Three counts of first-degree attempted assault
- Three counts of attempted aggravated assault of a police officer
- Three counts of first-degree reckless endangerment
- One count of second-degree criminal mischief
- Three counts of second-degree menacing
- One count of obstructing governmental administration
- One count of resisting arrest
These charges are not the first for DeBottis.
In 2011, he was convicted of third-degree rape for having sex with a 16-year-old girl, according to the state’s sex offender registry. He was 23 years old at the time. He was sentenced to 308 days in a local jail.
In 2015, DeBottis sent threatening text messages to a woman, sending police to his home and triggering a standoff. He escaped police overnight but eventually turned himself in.
In 2018, he was charged with reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child after threatening two people with a gun.
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