Penalty for attacks on police rises to felony

Thursday night while trying to subdue an unruly suspect, Cape Girardeau police officer Aaron Brown was hit in the face with the suspect's elbow. Brown was hurt but did not require medical attention.

Last October, while trying to arrest a suspect who broke parole on an original charge of assaulting a police officer, Cape Girardeau police officer Daniel Seger suffered a dislocated shoulder, which required two surgeries. He spent about six months off duty.

The difference between these two incidents is significant in light of a change in the law that Gov. Bob Holden recently signed.

Assaulting a police officer used to be a class A misdemeanor unless a weapon was involved. Now, it's a class C felony if a suspect attempts to hurt law enforcement or emergency personnel in any way including negligence -- such as an elbow in the face. It's the difference between up to a year in the county jail versus a maximum seven years in prison.

Seger's assailant, Tommy Egson Jr., was originally charged with a class C felony of assaulting a police officer, but the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor. Seger said he was injured during a scuffle when he was trying to wrest a screwdriver away from Egson, who was trying to use the tool to attack another officer. At the time Egson was on probation for assaulting a police officer.

"This wasn't his first rodeo," Seger said.

The felony was reduced to a misdemeanor in court, he said.

"This man spent less time in jail than I did gone from work," Seger said.

The suspect who struck Brown in the face, Anthony G. Southall of Marble Hill, Mo., is now the first in the area to face a felony charge as a result of the change.

The injury doesn't have to be debilitating or require medical attention, said assistant prosecuting attorney Ben Gray. It just has to cause pain.

"It looks like they ratcheted up the deal when it comes to police officers," Gray said.

Law enforcement officials say they're glad to see the change in the law. It's one the Missouri Police Chiefs Association has promoted, said Cape Girardeau police chief Steve Strong, who sits on the board of that organization.

"There's nothing that says when an officer places you under arrest that you have a right to elbow him in the head," Strong said.

Strong said assaults on officers happen on an almost weekly basis, and most of them are minor. Toughening the law against it and making the assailants pay a stiffer penalty than they otherwise would, he said, might cut down on the number of incidents.

Jackson police chief James Humphreys said he was glad to know that the law has been pumped up. Assaults on Jackson officers don't happen frequently, but, he said, "it gives us blanket coverage. I think it's a very big step in the right direction."

Capt. Ruth Ann Dickerson of the Cape Girardeau Sheriff's Department said there is ample opportunity for assaulting a police officer in the jail, although it does not happen often. She said the sheriff's department is glad to see the law changed.

"Considering the volume of people we deal with and the nature of where we deal with them, any measure we can have to protect our law enforcement officers, we will support that measure," Dickerson said.

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160