When a Cody man was pulled over for speeding last month, he reportedly responded by threatening police with a can of bear spray and his dog.

Cody police didn’t confront Chad W. Garaas at the time, court records say, choosing to deescalate the situation and leave. Last week, however, authorities followed up with criminal charges. Garaas now faces two felonies — aggravated assault and battery and possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent — plus a misdemeanor count of interference with a peace officer.

Park County Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah set Garaas’ bond at $10,000 cash during a Monday hearing; the 44-year-old posted that sum and was released from custody later in the day.

Deputy Park County Attorney Jack Hatfield had requested the $10,000 figure, citing in part “the level of dangerousness of the misconduct that Mr. Garaas committed here, coupled with his pattern of basically making an ass out of himself with law enforcement on a regular basis.”

Hatfield also noted that Garaas had a prior felony conviction in 2003, for delivering meth.

In response, Garaas noted that he hasn’t been in serious trouble for a long time.

“I agree with the prosecutor that I have been an ass to the police,” he said, but “some of it’s on their side.”

Charging documents say Garaas has a reputation among Cody police officers of being “extremely hostile to law enforcement.”

It was around 8:45 p.m. on Feb. 28 that Garaas was reportedly clocked going 43 mph on a 35 mph section of Big Horn Avenue. It took some time for Cody Police Officer Tanner Wichern to catch up, and by the time the officer flipped on his lights, Garaas was pulling into his own driveway on A Street.

Charging documents say Garaas initially questioned if police were sure they had the right vehicle. When Wichern responded that he was “positive” Garaas was the one speeding, Garaas reportedly said “OK, write the ticket.”

Wichern then asked for the driver’s license, registration and insurance information, which reportedly angered Garaas. He initially said he didn’t have his registration or insurance card — “f—ing deal with it,” he reportedly told Wichern — while tossing his license at the officer’s feet. He later threw the registration paperwork on the ground as well and made “vulgar off-handed statements about, ‘there it is,’ and ‘pick it up,’” Wichern recounted in an affidavit.

Garaas did offer to show his insurance information, but later reversed course, saying the officer had missed his “one f—ing chance” to examine it, the charging documents say. That prompted Wichern to issue a citation for no proof of insurance as well as speeding.

The affidavit alleges that Garaas became increasingly agitated as the traffic stop went on and repeatedly told the officer to hurry up.

“You’re on my time, b—. I pay your f—ing wages,” Garaas reportedly said.

He later had his daughter bring one of his dogs to his truck, and Wichern recalled being told that “if I wanted to f— around, I was going to get bit.”

Roughly 15 minutes after the stop began, Wichern finished writing the citations and Garaas yelled at him to put the paperwork on the ground and leave.

“You got one f—ing more chance to get the f— out of my yard before I take you out of my yard!” Garaas allegedly said.

He let his dog out of the truck, the affidavit says, but it didn’t attack the officer. Wichern and two officers providing backup prepared to leave, but as Wichern got into his vehicle, Garaas retrieved a can of bear spray from his truck.

“Hurry the f— up or I’m spraying your b— a—!” Garaas allegedly yelled while approaching the officer’s vehicle.

Wichern said he told Garaas to relax and reiterated they were leaving, but Garaas allegedly started counting down from 10 and took a couple more steps forward.

Wichern said he pulled his conductive energy weapon — better known as a stun gun — from its holster, but ultimately drove away without further incident. In his affidavit, the officer said he didn’t want to endanger anyone with a direct confrontation or to end up in a position where he had to use force.

The county attorney’s office filed charges against Garaas on Friday and he was arrested later that day. The most serious aggravated assault charge alleges that he “did threaten to use a drawn deadly weapon on another person.”

At Monday’s hearing, Hatfield suggested another, apparently unrelated charge could be coming for delivering the painkilling drug oxycodone.

“I'll have a chat with his defense counsel … whether I’m gonna file that or whether we’re going to deal with everything here” in the aggravated assault case, Hatfield told the court.

The prosecutor said Garaas “avoided the penitentiary” for his 2003 conviction for delivering meth — court records indicate he served 48 days in jail and three years of supervised probation —  but “we’ll see whether he’s going to end up there at this point.”

Court records indicate Garaas has only received traffic-related citations since the 2003 conviction and his voting rights were restored in 2021. Garaas told the court that he runs a local business and noted his deep ties to Cody.

The defendant said he was willing to wear an ankle monitor while on bond, but Hatfield didn’t request that as a condition and Darrah didn’t impose it. The judge did, however, bar Garaas from possessing any dangerous weapons, including bear spray or mace, while the case is pending.

A preliminary hearing to determine whether there’s enough evidence for the charges to go to a trial in district court is tentatively set for March 28.