Man who fired on officer gets 13 years in prison

A Spokane man who opened fire on a police officer during a two-day crime spree was sentenced Wednesday to 13  1/2 years in prison.

Tony E. Dawson, 21, pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and attempted first-degree robbery and was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza to 162 months.

The charges say Dawson was with Greg Sharkey Jr. on Dec. 23, 2009, when he fired several shots at Spokane police Officer Kristopher Honaker, who was not injured.

Dawson was a passenger in a stolen Suburban when they drove by the area where one of them had allegedly shot a teenager the night before. Honaker, who was monitoring the area, recognized the stolen Suburban and followed it.

The Suburban’s driver, Margaret D. Shults, 23, was sentenced to 77 months in prison last month after pleading guilty to first-degree robbery.

Dawson had several previous felony convictions, including first-degree robbery and second-degree escape.

He had been charged with nearly a dozen counts of attempted murder; Sharkey, 26, remains in jail on similar charges.