A man who claims he is HIV-positive and who allegedly spit in a police officer's mouth early Tuesday is in jail without bond on multiple assault charges.
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Similar incident
Tuesday was not the first time officers have faced the saliva - AIDS issue.
In 1991, AIDS patient Steve O'Banion, then 40, was stopped for jaywalking on a downtown street. He was later charged with attempted murder after he allegedly spit blood at corrections officers.
A judge threw out the attempted-murder charge.
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The Columbia Tusculum man allegedly spit at other officers after his initial arrest, saying he wanted to infect them.
The Hamilton County Jail has a court order to test Manuel Coulter for the virus and took a sample of blood Tuesday. Mr. Coulter, who turned 22 last week, is charged with two counts of felonious assault, as well as misdemeanor assault, carrying concealed weapons, resisting arrest and drug abuse.
Officers Barbara Winstead and Christopher Taylor picked him up just after midnight downtown Tuesdayon charges of possessing cocaine and having a box cutter concealed in his pocket. But he began kicking and spitting at officers and spit into Officer Winstead's mouth as he told her that he had AIDS, police said.
As he was being processed at the justice center, he was "uncooperative and violent," a police report said. "He stated several times that he was HIV-positive and that he was going to spit on us and infect us all."
Dr. Malcolm Adcock, Hamilton County health commissioner, said such an infection would be unlikely. "It's thought that the spread of HIV through saliva alone is relatively low-risk," he said.
The threat against officers by people who claim they have HIV is relatively rare, said Col. Dan Wolfangel, Hamilton County sheriff's office spokesman.
