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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Cedar Rapids police have arrested a man accused of trying to drive around a security checkpoint in the flooded city. Officials aren’t letting anyone past the checkpoints because of the dangers entering homes.
Rick Blazek of Cedar Rapids was arrested this morning and charged with assault on a peace officer with a deadly weapon.
Police Sgt. Cristy Hamblin says Blazek tried to drive through the checkpoint and bumped an Iowa State Patrol trooper three times. The trooper, who was standing outside his patrol car, wasn’t hurt.
Hamblin says this is the first incidence of violence the police have had since the city was flooded. She says people “are not angry at the police. They’re angry at the situation.”
Blazek was taken to jail in neighboring Jones County because the jail in Cedar Rapids is flooded. Bond was set at $10,000.