Cape woman charged with assaulting two officers

A Cape Girardeau woman was arrested on Sunday after allegedly scratching the face of one police officer and attempting to bite another.

Marsha V. Hinson, 41, of 45 S. West End Blvd., Apt. 105, was charged Monday by Cape Girardeau County Prosecutor Morley Swingle with two counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer and one count each of domestic assault, resisting arrest and possession of a controlled substance.

She is being held on a $15,000 cash-only bond. If convicted, she faces a maximum of one year in jail on misdemeanor domestic assault and a maximum of 25 years in prison for four felony counts.

Sunday afternoon, a 41-year-old man who lived with Hinson called police, said police spokesman Sgt. Barry Hovis. The man claimed that Hinson had hidden the keys to his truck, leading to a physical altercation between the two.

Officers Paul Zajicek and Stephanie Johnson and Sgt. Kevin Orr responded.

Hinson gave officers permission to search the home for the keys, Hovis said. When Zajicek ordered her to check the pockets of some clothing hanging on a hook, Hinson "grabbed the keys" and "threw" them at him.

Though officers saw bloody scratches on the man's face, neither Hinson nor the man wanted to press charges, Hovis said. Officers took a report, then began to leave, first Orr, then Zajicek and then Johnson.

But as Johnson entered her car, Hovis said, Hinson came out of the house screaming and cursing. She began slamming her hands on the hood of the car.

"We were leaving," Hovis said. "Why she came out and to confront the officers again, I have no idea."

He said Zajicek returned to the scene after seeing Hinson's actions in his rearview mirror.

Hinson was "agitated, uncooperative, basically just doing enough to get herself arrested for the way she was behaving," Hovis said.

It was then that Hinson attempted to bite Zajicek's hand, and she scratched Johnson's face.

Officers recovered from Hinson's residence a small amount of the controlled painkiller hydrocodone, which was not prescribed to Hinson, Hovis said.

jmetelski@semissourian.com