***MEDIA ADVISORY***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 16, 2015

CHICAGO MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO BATTERY AFTER INJURING POLICE OFFICERS IN JULY 2014

Media Contact: Curtis T. Hill, Jr. (574) 296-1888

On July 9, 2014, Reese Haithcox was charged with eight crimes, ranging from Aggravated Battery to Disorderly Conduct, after he attacked Corporal Dustin Young of the Elkhart Police Department on July 3, 2014, after Corporal Young attempted to get Haithcox out of the roadway in the area of West Garfield Avenue in Elkhart.

Corporal Young sustained an orbital floor fracture during the altercation during which Haithcox also tried to disarm Corporal Young and gain access to his service weapon. As officers arrived to provide assistance and gain control of Haithcox, two other EPD officers, Corporal Cody Skipper and Patrolman Justin Gage, sustained minor injuries requiring medical treatment.

Pursuant to Indiana Code, Haithcox had a total sentencing exposure of thirty-three years if convicted of all eight counts.

The defendant pleaded guilty on February 9, 2015, to Count I, Aggravated Battery, a Level 3 felony; Count IV, Battery Against a Public Safety Official, a Level 5 felony; and Count V, Battery Against a Public Safety Official, a Level 5 felony. The three counts encompassed all three officers who were injured by the defendant.

The defendant’s plea calls for an executed cap of twenty years, meaning the judge could sentence him to a period of incarceration of up to twenty years. The total sentence exposure is twenty-eight years under Indiana Code, meaning the judge could order an additional eight years of suspended time.

The defendant will be sentenced on March 5, 2015, in Elkhart Superior Court 1.

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“Under Indiana law, all persons arrested for a criminal offense are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”