Jumoke Cryer, an alleged St. Paul gang member who tried to dodge police in their own squad car, was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison.

Cryer, who police say is a Selby Siders gang member, was sentenced for fleeing a peace officer, theft of a motor vehicle and possession of a firearm by an ineligible person.

He pleaded guilty to the three charges July 19.

He denies being a gang member.

During Tuesday's Ramsey County District Court hearing, Cryer, 24, initially ignored a sheriff's deputy's order to face the judge.

He tried repeatedly to look at his mother, his sister and his fiancée in the spectators' area. Defendants are routinely told to keep their eyes toward the front of the courtroom. The deputy forcefully handcuffed Cryer and led him out for a break.

"Mr. Cryer, your head stays this way. Do you understand that?" Judge Gail Chang Bohr said when he was brought back to the courtroom.

"Uh-huh," Cryer said.

"No, not 'uh-huh,' " the judge said.

"Yes," Cryer said. "Yes, I understand."

The charge of motor vehicle theft stemmed from a July 10 incident. A police officer spotted Cryer at a party near Fuller Avenue and Fisk Street in St. Paul and knew he was wanted on a warrant, according to the criminal complaint. Cryer ran. Another officer saw him in the same area, got out of the squad car and chased him.

Cryer ran again but came back and got in the police squad car. He took off — then crashed the squad car on the Dale

Street bridge over Interstate 94 when he tried to squeeze between two cars stopped at a red light, the complaint said. The other two charges were from incidents March 16 and Nov. 19. Cryer's relatives complained outside the courtroom that they were being harassed because of their association with him. Felicia Cryer, his mother, said police came to her home Friday and "kicked my door in." They then hauled her off to jail for three days while giving her no explanation other than her "family tree," she said. "They know that they're getting to him by harassing his family," she said. "Investigators obtained information that Felicia Cryer was in possession of a firearm with an altered serial number," which is a felony, St. Paul police spokesman Andy Skoogman said. They got a search warrant, executed it Friday and found a gun with an altered serial number at Felicia Cryer's home, he said. The Ramsey County Jail log shows Felicia Cryer was booked on suspicion of having a firearm at her home. Felicia Cryer has not been charged. The case is under investigation. Felicia Cryer said she saw no search warrant. Skoogman said the search warrant has been sealed. Jumoke Cryer's 17-year-old sister said that while police were at her home, one officer "made a smart remark about how many pairs of shoes I have." In 2009, the city of St. Paul obtained temporary injunctions against 18 reputed members of the rival Selby Siders and East Side Boys gangs; Cryer was one of nine men named as Selby Siders. The injunctions barred the 18 from associating with fellow gang members, using gang signs or wearing gang clothing during Rondo Days, a summer festival. In a July 2009 Pioneer Press article, Cryer said he wasn't a gang member and never had been. He said police may have suspected him because "the people I used to hang out with when I was younger got into trouble and they're associating me with them."