A Jefferson City man has been placed on five years of supervised probation for assaulting Cole County sheriff's officers and correctional personnel in October 2017.
Mark E. Welty, 50, pleaded guilty to felony endangering a correctional employee by attempting to cause the person to come in contact with bodily fluid - in this case, saliva.
Welty also pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor assault.
He entered his pleas during a hearing before Cole County Judge Dan Green.
Two Cole County deputies responded to a residence in the 5400 block of Scherr Drive "in reference to an unresponsive male lying on (the) driveway of the residence," according to the misdemeanor probable cause statement.
The man identified as Welty was lying in a puddle of saliva. The two deputies asked him why he was on the ground, and Welty allegedly used an expletive to tell them to go away.
EMS arrived at the scene, but Welty was uncooperative when they attempted to speak to him. The deputies attempted to help EMS staff get Welty to his feet, but he began "yelling and flailing his arms and legs."
Welty was handcuffed and placed in protective custody, and he was transported to Capital Region Medical Center.
While officers attempted to restrain him for medical staff at the hospital, Welty kicked a deputy in the chest and knocked off the deputy's body camera while he was receiving a CAT scan.
Welty was deemed fit for confinement, and deputies approached him to help him into a police car. He then kicked the other deputy in the chest with both feet, causing the deputy to fall back into a wall.
Welty was brought to the Cole County Jail and "was placed in the restraint chair at approximately due to his combative nature," according to the felony probable cause statement.
About four hours later, a sergeant and two jailers "went to (the) combative male bullpen to take Welty out of the restraint chair," but Welty "resisted attempts to control him" and spit on one of the jailers.
Camera footage showed the jailer was controlling Welty's left arm as other jail staff were applying full restraints. "Welty became increasingly combative and could be seen lunging his face toward (the jailer's) face as if to spit on him," according to the statement.
The jailer said Welty's saliva "covered his right cheek and got in his right eye," despite Welty wearing a "spit mask" at the time.