Two city police officers were assaulted after chasing a man they caught urinating in the city's Entertainment District early Sunday, according to Springfield Police Capt. Cheryl Clapprood.
SPRINGFIELD -- Two city police officers were assaulted after chasing a Springfield man they caught urinating in the city's Entertainment District early Sunday, according to Springfield Police Capt. Cheryl Clapprood.
The officers were allegedly assaulted by 30-year-old Leon Thorne III, who will be arraigned Monday in Springfield District Court on two counts of assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest and other charges.
Clapprood said the officers, who were not identified, were patrolling the Worthington Street entertainment corridor when they noticed Thorne relieving himself around 2:45 a.m. on an outside wall of Brick City Pizzeria, 220 Worthington St.
"He was urinating and he wouldn't stop," Clapprood said.
Thorne, who lives at 89 Bowles St. in the McKnight section of the city, led the officers on a brief foot chase that ended near the Center Stage strip club on Dwight Street.
Thorne continued to be uncooperative, kicking the officers as they attempted to take him into custody, Clapprood said. The officers eventually had to administer a blast of pepper spray to subdue Thorne, she said.
THE MAP BELOW shows the approximate location where two Springfield police officers allegedly observed a city man urinating on the facade of a Worthington Street pizzeria early Sunday: