***MEDIA ADVISORY***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 5, 2015

HAITHCOX NOT IN CHICAGO ANYMORE - COP BATTERER GETS MAX

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. As Haithcox was arrested he continued to yell obscenities and "I am from Chicago" at officers.

On February 9, 2015, the defendant pleaded guilty to Aggravated Battery, a Level 3 felony; Battery Against a Public Safety Official, a Level 5 felony; and Battery Against a Public Safety Official, a Level 5 felony. The three counts encompassed all three officers injured by the defendant.

On March 5, 2015, Haithcox was sentenced in Elkhart Superior Court 1 to the maximum, twenty-eight years. Twenty of those years will be served at the Indiana Department of Correction, and eight years will be suspended to be served on reporting probation. The State, represented by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kathleen Gring, argued that the maximum sentence be imposed.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Gring argued that Haithcox had come as an outsider to the Elkhart community, seriously injuring community police officers and potentially endangering additional lives had he been able to access Corporal Young’s weapon. Other aggravating factors argued by the State included the defendant’s statements to detectives at the time of the incident that his intent was to take Corporal Young’s gun and shoot him, and his statements made to a pre-sentence investigator that he didn’t regret his actions.

During the sentencing hearing, as the State referred to the defendant’s statements, proceedings were halted because the defendant was laughing, smiling, and rolling his eyes.

Under Indiana’s new sentencing guidelines, effective July 1, 2014, the defendant will serve seventy-five percent of the ordered executed sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

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