Anytime a law enforcement officer is injured at the hands of another, Second Degree Assault on a Peace Officer is charged in Fort Collins and Larimer County. Recently, a man was arrested and charged with two counts of this felony crime after he was involved in a fight at the Colorado State Fair. According to the report, the man was on the ground fighting with another person when sheriff deputies got involved. In trying to pull the men apart, one deputy got punched in the face. The problem we have seen in previous cases like these, is that the people involved in the original fight are so engrossed in the fight, they don’t actually realize that it’s law enforcement getting involved. We often hear clients say that they thought it was a friend of the person they were fighting or just some other random person putting their hands on them. Even when the officers are yelling “police!” when adrenaline is pumping, you aren’t often thinking clearly. So, they react in a manner to protect themselves or just to continue the fight and end up with a felony charge.
Fort Collins Assault in the Second Degree Lawyer: How is Assault on a Peace Officer Charged in Colorado?
The Fort Collins, Colorado law definition of Assault in the Second Degree – C.R.S. 18-3-203(1)(c),(c.5),(f),(f.5)(I), and (h) – as it relates to assaulting a peace officer is:
(c) With intent to prevent one whom he or she knows, or should know, to be a peace officer, firefighter, emergency medical care provider, or emergency medical service provider from performing a lawful duty, he or she intentionally causes bodily injury to any person; or
(c.5) With intent to prevent one whom he or she knows, or should know, to be a peace officer, firefighter, or emergency medical service provider from performing a lawful duty, he or she intentionally causes serious bodily injury to any person; or
(f) While lawfully confined or in custody, he or she knowingly and violently applies physical force against the person of a peace officer, firefighter, or emergency medical service provider engaged in the performance of his or her duties, or a judge of a court of competent jurisdiction, or an officer of said court, or, while lawfully confined or in custody as a result of being charged with or convicted of a crime or as a result of being charged as a delinquent child or adjudicated as a delinquent child, he or she knowingly and violently applies physical force against a person engaged in the performance of his or her duties while employed by or under contract with a detention facility, as defined in section 18-8-203 (3), or while employed by the division in the department of human services responsible for youth services and who is a youth services counselor or is in the youth services worker classification series, and the person committing the offense knows or reasonably should know that the victim is a peace officer, firefighter, or emergency medical service provider engaged in the performance of his or her duties, or a judge of a court of competent jurisdiction, or an officer of said court, or a person engaged in the performance of his or her duties while employed by or under contract with a detention facility or while employed by the division in the department of human services responsible for youth services. A sentence imposed pursuant to this paragraph (f) shall be served in the department of corrections and shall run consecutively with any sentences being served by the offender; except that, if the offense is committed against a person employed by the division in the department of human services responsible for youth services, the court may grant probation or a suspended sentence in whole or in part, and the sentence may run concurrently or consecutively with any sentences being served. A person who participates in a work release program, a furlough, or any other similar authorized supervised or unsupervised absence from a detention facility, as defined in section 18-8-203 (3), and who is required to report back to the detention facility at a specified time is deemed to be in custody.
(f.5)(I) While lawfully confined in a detention facility within this state, an actor with intent to infect, injure, or harm a person in a detention facility whom the actor knows or reasonably should know to be an employee of a detention facility, causes such employee to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, urine, feces, saliva, mucus, vomit, or any toxic, caustic, or hazardous material by any means, including, but not limited to, throwing, tossing, or expelling such fluid or material.
(h) With intent to infect, injure, or harm another person whom the actor knows or reasonably should know to be engaged in the performance of his or her duties as a peace officer, a firefighter, an emergency medical care provider, or an emergency medical service provider, he or she causes such person to come into contact with blood, seminal fluid, urine, feces, saliva, mucus, vomit, or any toxic, caustic, or hazardous material by any means, including by throwing, tossing, or expelling such fluid or material
As you can see, the outcome can range from no actual injury (spitting) to serious bodily injury to the officer. Second Degree Assault is a felony crime. Depending on the subsection charged, there can be a mandatory sentence to the Colorado Department of Corrections.