Criminal Tries Escaping Central New York Police on Farm Tractor

This could possibly be the most bizarre arrest of the year...

Deputies from three different counties embarked on a wild journey that saw a man trying to escape them on the back of a farm tractor.

Considering most tractors average a top speed of 25 miles per hour, you can imagine the suspect had a lot of time to realize that this wasn't the best escape plan and tried playing an unexciting game of hide-and-seek.

The Madison County Sheriff's Office announced earlier this week that a warrant was out for the arrest of 37-year-old Michael DeBottis of Georgetown. He apparently slipped away from Broome County deputies who tried taking him in on domestic-related offenses.

The public was urged to provide tips of DeBottis' whereabouts and to stay far away from him if spotted.

After spending five days on the run, police finally learned where he was hiding and attempted to serve an arrest warrant. Unsurprisingly, DeBottis fled yet again - but this time on foot.

The suspect climbed on a farm tractor and revved the engine, probably hoping to make a great getaway. He led police officers on what must have been a very slow pursuit - so he apparently tried to shake them off by attacking them with the tractor's bucket.

That caused a head-on collision with a sheriff's armored vehicle, so he apparently sprang from the tractor and booked it to a heavily wooded area around the Camden Road area. That's when Madison and Broome County deputies called a third department for backup - the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office.

Using their Air-1 helicopter, Onondaga deputies managed to locate where DeBottis was hunkering down and police swooped in to take him into custody. Police say he had been hiding under a boat.

DeBottis was taken in without incident.

He was charged with multiple felonies: three counts of first-degree Attempted Assault, three counts of Attempted Aggravated Assault against a Police Officer, three counts of first-degree Reckless Endangerment, and second-degree Criminal Mischief.

He also was charged with three counts of second-degree Menacing, Resisting Arrest, and Obstructing Governmental Administration.

Although he was to be arraigned in Madison County CAP Court, he will apparently be visiting a carousel of courthouses because Broome County deputies also filed arrest warrants as soon as he's released from Madison County Jail.

Read More: Herkimer County Legislative Chair Arrested on Drug Charges

This isn't DeBottis' first brush with the law.

He's been registered on the state's sex offender registry since 2011 for third-degree rape of a 16-year-old girl. He also engaged in a standoff with police in 2015 after sending threatening texts to a woman. He also was arrested in 2018 for threatening people with a firearm.

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Sounds like a nice guy.