Coltart sentenced to 12 years for 2016 standoff with Copperas Cove police

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

Alexander Scott Coltart of Copperas Cove has spent the past six years in the Coryell County Jail and he will now spend the next 12 years in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility after a jury found him guilty in a trial held last week.

Coltart was involved in an Aug. 3, 2016 standoff with Copperas Cove police when they were trying to serve a felony warrant for aggravated assault at his family’s home in the 600 block of North 17th Street.

The standoff lasted nearly three hours, with SWAT being called to assist. Coltart left the house with a rifle and ignored the officer’s demand to put down the gun, instead fleeing through the backyard to North 15th Street.

When Coltart headed back toward his home, he stopped in the street and pointed his rifle at the officers present. Shots were fired, striking him, and he was hospitalized until being medically cleared for transport to the Coryell County jail.

Coltart faced charges of eight counts of aggravated assault on a public servant and the initial charge of aggravated assault with serious bodily injury, for which the warrant was being served.

The assault charge alleged that Coltart had physically assaulted his father, Joseph, “hitting and kicking him numerous times on his head and body causing Joseph to become unconscious.” His mother told police at that time that she didn’t report the assault at first because she feared for her life and believed she could care for her husband. Then she escaped her home and called 9-1-1 because her husband did not appear to be breathing.

Joseph Coltart was found to have several cerebral hemorrhages and a collapsed lung, and the arrest affidavit said Coltart had extensive bruising on his face, neck, upper chest, abdomen, and legs and that he was also on a ventilator to assist with breathing.

With the trial not taking place until six years after Coltart was arrested and charged, Coryell County District Attorney Dusty Boyd said that based on dynamics within the case, the court had to address numerous issues with mental health before the case could go to trial.