Locally, no. Spitting, simple assault like swinging at or otherwise trying to start a fight but then getting tased or easily subdued.
Unless the officer sustained some sort of serious injury that required hospitalization or worse nothing will come of it.
The video of the Asian guy from hangover saying "but did you die?" Is what you really need to do ask yourself and if the answer is "almost" then the charge may stick.
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We often charged for swing or kicks that connected even without much injury just to show the judge and jury the persons full personality at the time. We always charged if officers had to use force of strikes,TASER or the added force caused some injury. That was CYA. Most of the time these were the charges that got pled down or eliminated in a plea and the original charges stuck or got plead down less. We had very supportive city attorneys/prosecutors so we were lucky.
That said spitting,pulling, anything verbal, kicks,swings etc that didn't connect and pretty much anything while the subject was cuffed resulted in no additional charges at the officer level.
A lot has changed since I wore a badge, but I always ensured that Assault on a Public Safety Officer was punished appropriately....... the charges may have been reduced, or even dropped as part of a deal, but the offense itself never went unpunished.
Last edited by Odin Bravo One; 09-04-2017 at 11:09 AM.
You can get much more of what you want with a kind word and a gun, than with a kind word alone.
Staff assaults have gone up over 300% in my agency. Needless to say the DA never fails to impress us with the INTP (intent not to prosecute). We are fighting all the time, officer getting attacked by Sureno gang members. Had an officer recently get scalding water thrown in his face. The again, life in a jail is a lot different than on the street.
Having worked in corrections, I observed that some elected d.a's ignore complaints of "routine" kicks and bumps that staff might endure when restraining inmates. A bit of thread drift here, but I wish to point out that an obese person might be very strong and agile, and some females are stronger than males. Both groups are capable of delivering vicious "routine" lumps. Of course cops already know this.
No, not at all like it should be - far too often. There was a time, I've heard, where what Sean M mentioned would have occurred and then the event would have bee called good.
In the last several years I've only seen one incident prosecuted to a successful conclusion and that was in a resisting, rather than assaulting, case. Suspect & family made repeated racist comments about the minority officer. Suspect & family some egregious claims about the officer's actions. Video exonerated officer while showing suspect & family to be way wrong. Familiy hired patrol car chasing shyster who stirred everything up even more.
Very compitent deputy prosecutor took the case and destroyed suspect, her lawyer, and her family.
That is so rare it stands out. There are others going the opposite direction where all the suspects got were low level plea deals.
Where I am at even a simple assault on an officer is a felony. Purposely spitting on an officer is as well. We have Detective Bureau personnel handle the charges, both to ensure proper completion as well as serve as a filter. This prevents resisting arrest from being charged as an assault if the officer takes it too personally. I used to work in the unit that processed these offenses and have charged it dozens of times.
If the officer said they were assaulted and it met the statutory requirements, we charged it. The DA office was pretty good about follow through, and I think part of that was due to Bureau personnel processing the cases. We worked together already on all the shootings and stabbings, so another felony assault case (on the officer) was treated the same. One prosecutor in particular would only allow pleas to the indictment (with flexibility on the sentence) so the assault would remain the offense of record.
We did not require harm be done, as it was not required in the statute. There is actually case law with my name on it affirming this after it was the basis for an appeal by a guy we convicted for attacking an officer while he was drunk. His position was since the officer was not harmed, his punching him should not count. The appeals court did not agree.
Now that is not to say that in my day a lot of this was not adjudicated at the street level, but in recent years I have unfortunately seen a trend of more officers being injured than suspects requiring medical treatment.
Last edited by PD Sgt.; 09-04-2017 at 04:11 PM.
Polite Professional
Served a Warrant for Resisting Arrest on a citizen. Made contact with a male at the listed address on the Warrant, he gave the wrong name but the correct SSN. My partner and I wrestle him into cuffs. We didn't add another resisting arrest charge, or Obstructing Justice (felony). If he had swung on us, completely different story.
At my Federal job, and here, the same point has been made, and reinforced to me through interactions with criminal individuals. Fairness and strength go a long way, and a good old fashioned ass whipping is remembered as well as being treated as a human being as much as the situation allows.
I bet it did. That's messed up.Originally Posted by blues
Utah is a good state. Resisting arrest, assault on a PO, projecting bodily fluid at a PO, are all chargable offenses. They get charged too. Harm doesn't need to be done, its just like any other assault charge.
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