CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Charleston man said Monday in Kanawha County Circuit Court he did not remember ramming the vehicle he was driving into a deputy’s cruiser earlier this year.
“I had been up for days high on meth. I really don’t remember nothing,” Brian Edward Spencer, 35, told Kanawha County Circuit Judge Jim Stucky.
The Jan. 24 incident left Cpl. A.J. Miller of the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department injured inside a cruiser he was parked in along Falcon Drive.
Kanawha County Assistant Prosecutor Zoe Shavers told the judge Spencer got into an argument with family members earlier that night before stealing his then-girlfriend’s 2002 Toyota Camry. She said Spencer hit his brother’s pickup truck in the driveway then sped off.
“While he was gone, he was making threats to family members through text messages and Facebook messages and driving up and down the street at a high rate of speed,” Shavers said.
Because of those threats, Cpl. Miller arrived on scene that evening. While Spencer’s sister-in-law Wendy Spencer was talking to Miller at the driver’s side window, the two saw headlights down the road.
“Cpl. Miller, wanting to make sure that that vehicle saw him, turned on his emergency blue lights. After the blue lights went on, the person in that car, who turned out to be Mr. Spencer, revved the engine, gunned the gas and drove full speed at the vehicle,” Shavers explained.
Spencer pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of attempted murder and destruction of property following the incident. Judge Stucky then sentenced him to 3 to 15 years in prison plus one year to follow after that.
Prior to sentencing, Shavers called Cpl. Miller to the witness stand. Miller told the court Spencer has an extensive violent history that has not proved to show he’s “learned his lesson.”
“My concern is when Mr. Spencer gets released this next time he will end up victimizing the people of Kanawha County as he has done in the past,” Miller said.
Cpl. Miller suffered minor injuries while the K9 in his vehicle was not hurt, according to the department.
Spencer’s attorney Matthew Victor requested Spencer seek drug treatment while housed at the South Central Regional Jail.
“There’s nothing I can say or do to take back that night,” Spencer told the judge. “What’s done is done. I regret what has been done, but I’ve always been told ‘why dwell on the past when you can lead a better future?'”