Ky. Officer Sent to Hospital After Woman Spits in Face

Feb. 13, 2011
A police officer is sent to the hospital after a suspect spit in his face during an arrest.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. --

A police officer is sent to the hospital after a suspect spit in his face during an arrest.

Police said they were responding to a disturbance call at an apartment complex on Wayside Drive in Shively on Thursday. They said Amy Brown, 40, was violating an emergency protective order. But when two officers tried to arrest her, they said she got out of hand.

"She began kicking at the officers and spit on two of the officers, and one of the officers got the spit on their face," said Sgt. Chris Ashby, with the Shively Police Department.

Police were able to handcuff Brown and get her inside a cruiser. But they said Brown still wouldn't calm down.

According to the arrest slip, "She attempted to kick the window out of the cruiser and was then shackled and the use of a hobble and spit mask was used."

"Basically, all it is is a mesh type of material that goes over the top of the head where you can still breathe through it," Ashby said.

A spit mask or spit shield protects police officers from spit that could potentially carry diseases, and most officers carry one with them.

The officer whose face was spit in was sent to the hospital to get a blood test because sometimes it's not bullets or knives that can harm officers -- it's saliva.

"There's always a danger out there when any officer makes a situation when they could come into contact with somebody else's bodily fluids. You can never be sure what somebody else may have or may not have," Ashby said.

Brown is being charged with third-degree assault of a police officer and violation of an emergency protective order.

The results of the officer's blood test are not yet available. Police said they don't know whether Brown has any diseases that the officer could have contracted.

Copyright 2011 by WLKY.com. ©2011 Hearst Properties Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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