Mother Arrested for Assaulting Police Officer :: Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

Everyone is familiar with the old adage that there is nothing like a mother’s love, and it has proven to be true time and time again. An East Tennessee policeman found that out the hard way when his attempt at arresting the thirty-nine year old man from Andersonville, Tennessee resulted in the mother of the arrested individual catching him flush in the face with a haymaker. The policeman said that the mother followed him from her home in Andersonville to the jail in Clinton and demanded her son be released, a tactic that one would have to assume has about a zero percent success rate. When the officer refused to hand over her baby boy, the lady channeled her inner Ali and socked the cop right in the kisser. She is facing numerous charges including assault.

The law provides that a person commits assault in Tennessee who:

Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes bodily injury to another;

Intentionally or knowingly causes another to reasonably fear imminent bodily injury; or

Intentionally or knowingly causes physical contact with another and a reasonable person would regard the contact as extremely offensive or provocative.

Intentionally punching someone in the face would seem to fall clearly within the (1) of the definition, while trying to punch someone in the face but missing would fall within (2). Violation of either (1) or (2) is a Class A misdemeanor while violation of (3) is a Class B misdemeanor. Given the circumstances of the situation described above, the pugilistic parent in this case would be facing a class A misdemeanor assault charge, which is punishable by up to eleven months and twenty-nine days in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Getting arrested or seeing a family member arrested is extremely frustrating and may even feel completely unfair or undeserved, but acting out violently toward the arresting officer is no solution. In every case, it will only make the situation much worse than it was initially. The best course of action is merely to be polite and respectful until the situation has run its course, or else risk being faced with additional charges.

Source: http://www.volunteertv.com/anderson/headlines/78231287.html