A man with five arrest warrants gouged a police officer’s eye during a 2 AM struggle Saturday, August 20, Burlington Police say.
The incident began when police located a stolen vehicle on Elmwood Avenue. The vehicle had been reported stolen hours earlier and was located via GPS.
The officer approached the vehicle and found a male unconscious in the driver’s seat. This male was identified as Eric Loyer, age 30, whom officers were familiar with from previous law enforcement encounters, police said.
The officer was able to wake Loyer up. After Loyer started reaching in the center console and then his pockets, he was ordered several times to leave the car. After police tried to place Loyer into handcuffs, he began to reach into his waistband. Fearing Loyer was reaching for a weapon, the officer placed Loyer on the ground. Loyer then clawed at the officer’s eye and then continued to gouge the Officer’s eye as the officer ordered Loyer to stop resisting. A second officer arrived on scene and assisted with gaining control of Loyer who was subsequently secured into handcuffs.
The Burlington Fire Department transported the officer and Loyer to UVMMC for treatment for non-life threatening injuries.
It was learned the Mr. Loyer had five active arrest warrants for: Misdemeanor False Pretense of False Tokens (Cite and release warrant), Misdemeanor Cocaine Possession (Daytime warrant), Felony Grand Larceny, Misdemeanor Vehicle Operation with License Suspended, Misdemeanor Fraud-3 counts with a $500 bail warrant, Misdemeanor Retail Theft warrant for $200 bail, and a Felony Receiving Stolen Property with a $500 bail.
His criminal history revealed 7 Failures to Appear, 2 Violation of Court Order Conditions (1 conviction), 8 Felony charges (4 convictions), 16 Misdemeanor charges (10 convictions), 2 Assaultive crime charges, 2 Escapes charges, and 2 Probation and Parole charges. Loyer has had 12 incidents since 2019 where he was an involved person, a person of interest, or an arrestee in an investigation into a stolen vehicle and/or recovered stolen vehicle.
Loyer was lodged at Northwest Correctional Facility on the active arrest warrants and received a bail of $500 for the above mentioned charges stemming from this new incident.