Man convicted of spitting on Portland cops gets 16 months in prison, prosecutors say
A man accused of spitting repeatedly on police officers in Portland, Oregon, has been sentenced to more than a year in prison, according to prosecutors.
A judge convicted Justin Antoine McDonald, 39, of resisting arrest and aggravated harassment this week, sending him to prison for 16 months, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release on Thursday.
The charges came after someone called 911 Oct. 19 reporting that an agitated man was waving a knife and making threats, according to prosecutors.
Responding officers discovered McDonald nearby and “he started yelling to be let go and started yelling racial slurs,” prosecutors said. He also had a folding knife in his pocket.
During a search, McDonald told officers “I’m going to spit on you,” prosecutors said.
McDonald was warned that he could be charged with a felony for spitting on police, but he then “turned his torso, kicked his feet and spit on the arresting officer,” prosecutors said.
McDonald was put in the backseat of a police cruiser, where prosecutors said he “spit all over the seat and continued trying to spit on the officer. Upon doing so, McDonald made a statement to the officer which suggested he had AIDS or HIV and said ‘I hope you have it now.’”
Prosecutors cited the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in pointing out that HIV cannot be spread through saliva.
When McDonald was arrested there were already “three opening cases for separate instances where he spit on an officer,” prosecutors said.
After McDonald is released, he’ll be on post-prison supervision and probation for three years, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Man convicted of spitting on Portland cops gets 16 months in prison, prosecutors say."
