Man who assaulted cop and urinated on cell floor says he would ‘likely be dead’ if still back in America

An American-raised man who assaulted a police officer and “behaved like a child” says it was not lost on him that had he acted that way back in the US, he would probably be dead. Isaiah Lamar Barrett, 30, admitted to grabbing a St John WA worker’s wrists and pulling her towards him after she woke him from unconsciousness on the street by rubbing his sternum on November 14. After the woman broke free from his grip, a police officer informed Barrett they were there to help him, but he reacted by hurling abuse at the officer and scratching him in the face, leaving a scratch from his forehead down to the bridge of his nose. Barrett then grabbed the officer and another constable by their vests, holding them in place while he yelled abuse at them before they sprayed him with capsicum spray. He also pleaded guilty to breaching a family violence restraining order which led to his being arrested on November 3. Once at the police station lock-up, Barrett was searched and entered a fighting stance against officers before being placed in a padded cell, where he urinated on the floor. In the next cell, Barrett used the bed sheet and his own shorts to block the toilet and flood the floor while shouting racist slurs at officers Magistrate Janie Gibbs sentenced Barrett in Kalgoorlie Magistrates Court on Thursday on charges of assaulting a public officer, disorderly behaviour in a police station, two breaches of an FVRO, criminal damage, obstructing a public officer, and failing to provide personal details to police. He also pleaded not guilty to an aggravated common assault against his brother, and did not enter a plea to a charge of trespassing. Ms Gibbs said Barrett’s behaviour was what she would expect of someone much younger, not a 30-year-old man. “You are a 30-year-old man behaving like a child having a tantrum, clogging up the toilet with your clothes,” she said. Defence lawyer Pamela Oram said Barrett had a limited memory of the assault on the police officer. She said he remembered he had been drinking at a friend’s house and left to head home, but he bumped into someone who he claimed had put him in a sleeper hold, punched him, and left him unconscious on the street. “He wants to apologise for how he acted,” Ms Oram said. “He was just not in a good headspace when they woke him up. “After they sprayed him he came to and realised what was going on . . . but struggled to understand why he was being arrested. “He grew up in America so he knows if he acted that way in America it is likely he would be dead, and that weighs heavily on him.” Barrett also pleaded guilty to throwing pot plants through the front and back windows of his mother’s home on November 4. Ms Oram said Barrett’s main issue was alcohol consumption, which he said increased after events in the US as well as his providing CPR to his mum while she suffered cardiac arrest in their home. Ms Gibbs urged Barrett to get his alcohol issues under control unless he wanted to spend more time in jail. “Because the officer suffered an injury in the assault, you are lucky you are not facing a mandatory term of imprisonment,” she said. “You have issues with some police, it seems, because you have three previous convictions for obstructing police.” She fined Barrett $1300 and placed him on an eight-month community-based order with program and supervision requirements. She also granted him bail for the remaining charges, releasing him with a $500 personal undertaking and a condition that he not consume alcohol.