Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – A Prince George’s County Police Officer will be sentenced Friday morning on second degree assault charges for driving into a suspect on the run in 2016.
Juan Hernandez was found guilty of second degree assault, a misdemeanor, in May for driving his police car into a suspect who was on the run. Prince George’s County State’s Attorney spokesperson John Erzen said that Hernandez and another officer had responded to a call of a man with a weapon. Another police officer got to the scene first and was running after the suspect. Hernandez drove after him, followed him into a field and hit him with his cruiser.
Police did not find a weapon on the suspect. The suspect wasn’t injured when he was hit.
Hernandez was acquitted of a charge of misconduct in office, according to Erzen, because the jury did not believe he abused his official capacity as a police officer. They just felt too much force was used to take down the suspect.
Hernandez is still with the department, but he’s been suspended since he was indicted.
The maximum sentence for second degree assault is 10 years, but Hernandez is likely to get far less than that because he didn’t have a record, and the charge is a misdemeanor. Erzen said Hernandez will likely not spend any time in jail and only serve probation.
“Every now and then we have had officers here in the county who have unfortunately stepped out of line and done something where we’ve had to bring criminal charges against them, but I think everyone needs to remember that when you’re looking at one officer here, or one officer there, it really is not reflective of the 1700 plus officers who make up the men and women of the police force who keep our streets safe here in the county,” Ezren stressed.
Hernandez is scheduled to be sentenced at 9:30 Friday morning at the Prince George’s County Courthouse.
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