A man from Cedar Rapids was caught in North Liberty on Monday after allegedly strangling his mother with an American flag and avoiding police while drunk.
The criminal charge says that Adam Sotzen’s mother called the police after he broke into her North Liberty home to talk to her about a previous argument.
She thought Sotzen was already drunk when he got there, and she said he pushed her to the ground when he got in. Sotzen’s mother got up and moved to a chair in her living room after being pushed. That’s when Sotzen came up to her holding an American flag that he had allegedly stolen from a nearby house.
The lawsuit says Sotzen turned the flag into a rope and choked his mother with it while telling her she needed to die and calling her a bad name.
When Sotzen’s mother fell off her chair, he choked her even though she was on the ground face down. The lawsuit says that Sotzen’s mom thought he was going to kill her. When police came later, she was said to be scared and upset, saying that she couldn’t defend herself against her son because they were so different in size.
The mother’s boyfriend stepped in and pulled Sotzen off of his mother, which led to another fight in which Sotzen is said to have punched the boyfriend in the face and ribs.
Then, Sotzen reportedly left the house before the police came and drove off while drunk.
Using the license plate number, another cop found his car, which was going 10 miles over the speed limit. The cop turned on the emergency lights and siren because they knew about the assault report, but Sotzen didn’t pay attention to them.
This caused a short car chase during which the officer said Sotzen was trying to get away from the cops by driving 55 mph in a 30 mph zone. A short time later, Sotzen pulled over.
The report says that Sotzen got out of his car and knelt down in the middle of the road. He is said to be unwilling to cooperate with police and to fight them. The report also says that Sotzen seemed off-balance and had a strong alcohol smell.
According to the report, Sotzen stayed hostile while being taken to the Johnson County jail and is said to have hit the wall inside the patrol car.
There are several charges against him, including attempted murder (a Class B felony), eluding while exceeding the speed limit by 25 mph or more (a Class D felony), assault with intent to cause serious injury, and first-degree harassment (both aggravated misdemeanors). He was booked on Monday at 3:35 p.m. and is being held on a $30,000 bond.
Besides that, he is being charged with a serious misdemeanor for the first time of driving a vehicle while impaired.
On the day Sotzen was arrested, he was told he couldn’t talk to his mother. His application for a public attorney was accepted, and on Oct. 23 he was given a lawyer.