US: Ohio man who spat on police officers faces an additional third-degree felony charge for being HIV positive despite zero transmission risk

Arrest

Man with HIV gets felony after spitting on officers

July 2, 2016
Source: Chillicothe Gazette

CHILLICOTHE – A 72-year-old Chillicothe man already facing a felony charge in Ross County Common Pleas Court is now facing another one.

SX, is awaiting a competency hearing on the first felony charge, but now faces two counts of harassment with a bodily substance. One is a third-degree felony, and the other is a fifth-degree felony.

In the most recent indictment, X spit blood and saliva on officers as they attempted to arrest him on an aggravated menacing charge on May 24. The fifth-degree felony charge comes as the result of the act of spitting on the officers, but the third-degree felony charge comes because X later tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

X is already under indictment on a vandalism charge in connection with an April 11 incident in which he rammed his car into a Chillicothe Fire Department ambulance. Court officials are awaiting a second evaluation of Xs’ mental status in that case.