A man shot by a Vancouver police officer on Thanksgiving was sentenced Wednesday in Clark County Superior Court to nearly 1 1/2 years in prison.
Demarcus D. Roundtree, 31, pleaded guilty in January to second-degree taking a motor vehicle without permission and first-degree criminal impersonation.
On Thanksgiving, Vancouver police Officer Christopher Bohatch, 34, shot Roundtree, who was in a suspected stolen vehicle, near the East Fourth Plain Boulevard onramp from southbound Interstate 5. Roundtree then fled in the vehicle.
The car was later found abandoned near the intersection of East Fourth Plain Boulevard and E Street, and Roundtree was found soon after in a parked vehicle in the 400 block of East Fourth Plain Boulevard, according to police.
Roundtree was under the influence of intoxicants during the incident, his defense attorney Dustin Richardson said.
“I think the officer in this situation overreacted to my client’s intoxication,” Richardson said.
Roundtree had borrowed the stolen Honda Accord from a friend, Richardson said. He pulled over due to mechanical issues just before the officer was about to flash his sirens, and the officer likely mistook Roundtree’s phone for a gun, he said.
“This case has an unusual background,” Richardson said. “I think there was a lot of confusion with my client.”
Roundtree was not seriously hurt during the incident, and Bohatch was uninjured.
When officers spoke to him, Roundtree gave a false name, according to court records. Officers learned he might be using an alias, and when confronted about it, he gave his real name, saying he was on parole out of Oregon.
Roundtree apologized to detectives at the time of the incident for running and apologized again Wednesday.
“I made a mistake,” he said.
Superior Court Judge John Fairgrieve said Roundtree paid “more than most” for the crime.
“Sorry you were shot,” he said.
