Spokane police arrest Albert V. Bergen, 46, on charges of burglary, resisting arrest and assaulting police. (SPD photo)

A man is accused of assaulting a police officer after he was caught in the backyard of a home in northwest Spokane Friday.

According to Spokane police, a woman spotted a man later identified as Albert V. Bergen, 46, enter the backyard of her home in the 6200 block of North A Street, just south of West Francis Avenue, and begin rummaging through a shed.

The woman told Bergen to leave, but he refused and tried to enter her home, she told police. Bergen lunged at Officer Holton Wildhalm when confronted about 2:46 p.m. and struck him in the chest with his elbows.

Wildhalm was fighting with Bergen on the muddy lawn when Bergen picked up a jagged rocked and began trying to strike Wildhalm in the head, police say. Other officers arrived and detained Bergen.

Bergen remains in jail on charges of second-degree burglary, third-degree assault and resisting arrest.

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