Police: Man arrested after stealing bicycle, swinging shovel at officers in Santa Rosa

A man was arrested Monday night after a string of crimes in Santa Rosa that ended with him being bit by a police K-9, authorities said.

Santa Rosa Police Department officers were dispatched about 5:30 p.m. to a report of possible shots fired into a vehicle in the 700 block of Mendocino Avenue, just north of downtown, department spokesperson Sgt. Patricia Seffens said in a news release.

The reporting party was sitting in their parked vehicle when they heard their back window crack and shatter, and saw a man armed with what they believed to be a rifle. They found a brick in their backseat after the man left.

Officers received additional reports of a man throwing rocks at vehicles in the area, Seffens said.

Police found the man had a shovel, not a gun, which he was swinging at passing patrol vehicles as he walked down Mendocino Avenue.

Officers closed both directions of traffic as the man, identified as Indugo Williams, 46, continued to wave the shovel and repeatedly yelled at police to shoot him.

Williams eventually put down the object but tried to pick it back up, after which an officer released a police dog. The canine bit Williams on his left shoulder, police said.

Williams was detained, taken to a hospital and then booked in the Sonoma County jail in Santa Rosa.

Police later learned that Williams had also forcibly stolen a bike from someone while threatening them, as well as damaged a fence and struck three total vehicles by throwing rocks and bricks.

Williams was arrested on suspicion of four counts of vandalism, preventing or resisting an executive officer from doing their job, robbery and criminal threats. All seven charges are felonies.

He is being held in lieu of $262,000 bail.

Williams was issued pretrail release Nov. 14 for a case in which he was charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and misdemeanor obstructing an officer, according to court records.

He has three other open cases in Sonoma County Superior Court in which he has collectively been charged with two counts of having controlled substance paraphernalia, one count of having a controlled substance, four charges related to failing to register as a sex offender and one count of obstructing a law enforcement officer.

He is set to appear in court Wednesday morning and again the morning of Nov. 30.

You can reach Staff Writer Madison Smalstig at madison.smalstig@pressdemocrat.com. On X, formerly Twitter, @madi.smals.