A 21-year-old New London man who taunted police and spat at an officer during an altercation on Jay Street was convicted Thursday in Superior Court of crimes that could land him in prison for up to 11½ years.

A six-member jury found DeVonte West of 57 Jay St. guilty of assault on a public safety officer, interfering with an officer and breach of peace in the June 16, 2013, incident. The jury found West not guilty of an additional count of assault on a public safety officer in which he had been accused of kicking a police sergeant.

In taking the case to trial, West, who recently has started working at Sheffield Industries and has a 1-year-old son, turned down an offer to plead guilty in exchange for a one-year prison sentence.

The police had gone to the home in response to a harassment complaint concerning another tenant, Kenneth Hack, but did not have a warrant and were refused entry by West, according to testimony. Hack eventually gave himself up and was taken into custody, but West’s mother, 46-year-old Henrietta Adger, arrived at the scene and began screaming because she thought her son had been arrested. The police planned to issue her a ticket for speeding up to the scene in a minivan and not having proper restraints on children in the back seat, but she ended up being taken to the ground and handcuffed, according to testimony.

West admitted on the witness stand that during the encounter, he told “police jokes” to the officers and they exchanged insults, with one of them sticking out their tongue at him. He said he became angry and spat in Officer Deanna Nott’s direction in reaction to his mother’s arrest. He went back into the home, and Nott came after him, kicking in the door, according to testimony. He was placed in handcuffs and was involved in a tussle with Nott and three other officers, according to testimony.

He ended up on the ground, and Sgt. Robert Pickett used a Taser on him after he resisted arrest, according to police.

Officers John Michaud and Jeremy Zelinski also were involved in West’s arrest.

Adger, the mother, broke down in court when, after the verdict was read, Judge John M. Newson set West’s bond at $50,000 and a judicial marshal handcuffed the tall, thin defendant.

“Can I please hug my son?” she implored repeatedly.

West’s attorney, Sebastian O. DeSantis, gently led her from the courthouse. Other family members followed, crying.

The mother’s case is pending in the same court. She is charged with one count of assault on a police officer, interfering with an officer and breach of peace.

Part of the defense evidence had included a video of the nighttime incident that a teenage neighbor captured on a cellphone and provided to the West family. While an onlooker providing commentary on the video suggests the officers were using excessive force and were “wilding,” much of the action, except for the blue light of Pickett’s Taser gun, is difficult to make out. Judge Newson allowed the jury to see, but not hear, the video, ruling that the audio portion was too confusing.

During his closing argument, prosecutor Rafael Bustamante told the jury the police “acted with restraint on that particular night.”

“This whole situation could have been avoided, but he (West) kept escalating it,” Bustamante said.

The defense argued that the police had manhandled West’s mother unnecessarily and had continued to antagonize West.

“Part of a police officer’s training is to defuse these situations, but that’s not what happened here,” DeSantis said.

West’s family had considered the event an excessive use of force by police and unsuccessfully had sought help from several advocacy groups, including the local chapter of the NAACP, while the case was pending.

“There’s really no justice in the justice system,” said West’s sister, DeAngela West, who is attending college and studying criminal justice. She said her brother’s young adult life would be ruined by the conviction.

“I want to be a lawyer to help people like them,” she said of her family members.

West will be sentenced on Nov. 20.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN