Sidney man arrested for assault, terroristic threats

Jason Cagle, 29 of Sidney, was arrested June 19 after a physical altercation with his neighbor. Charges include making terroristic threats.

Sergeant Tim Craig was dispatched to Cagle's apartment to investigate an assault, according to the police report. When Craig arrived at Cagle's place of residence, Cagle was present and wasn't wearing a shirt. He told the sergeant that he'd gotten into an argument with his neighbor, Levi Hallett.

Cagle admitted to tackling Hallett to the ground, but informed officers he never hit Hallett. Cagle said he was injured from the altercation and Craig observed marks on Cagle's forehead. Cagle then brought up his frustrations concerning past incidents with law enforcement.

Reports to police differed as to how the fight began and evolved.

In one account, the incident allegedly began when Hallett asked to borrow Cagle's mother's car to make a trip to McDonalds. She declined, reportedly saying it did not have enough gas. Cagle claimed that Hallett then said something rude to his mother.

From there the incident escalated, with Cagle and Hallet reportedly exchanging insults. Hallett allegedly pushed Cagle. Following this, Cagle asked Hallett to stop and then tackled him to the ground.

Hallet's version of the story was quite different. Gabriela Fernandez came to Hallett's door and asked him to drive her to McDonalds, Hallett said in the police report. He told her the car did not have enough gas.

A short time after this, Cagle came to Hallett's door and started yelling at him. Cagle allegedly started pushing Hallett and punched him. Then Cagle eventually pushed Hallett to the ground. Cagle reportedly got on top of Hallett and punched him in the face again, multiple times.

Another party came and pulled Cagle off of Hallett.

Officer Craig observed that Hallett had blood in and around his nose and recent scratches on his body. Later, when taking statements at the Police Department, Naomi Ruggerio—who had been at Hallett's apartment and witnessed the altercation—claimed that Cagle had threatened to kill Hallett while on top of him.

Cagle was charged with disturbing the peace, third degree assault and terroristic threats.

A terroristic threat is when someone threatens another person with the intent of scaring or terrorizing them, said Deputy Cheyenne County Attorney, Jonathon Stellar.