On Wednesday, November 14, 2001, Randall W. Gills, 42, of 1114 Morton, Jackson, Missouri, pled guilty to driving while intoxicated, resisting arrest and assaulting officers of the Jackson Police Department and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The plea and sentencing took place in front of Circuit Judge Gene Hamilton in the Circuit Court of Boone County in Columbia, Missouri, on a change of venue from Cape Girardeau County.

Gills admitted that he had resisted arrest on May 17, 2001, and in the course of resisting that arrest had assaulted Howard Hammers and Rick Whitaker of the Jackson Police Department. He also admitted that he had been driving while intoxicated prior to his arrest.

The incident began at 4:37 p.m. on May 17, 2001, when Jackson Police officers responded to a report of a person driving a truck in a careless and imprudent manner in the 1000 block of Morton Street in Jackson. Witnesses reported to police that Randall W. Gills had been driving up the street at a high rate of speed, narrowly missing striking a child in the street. The witnesses reported that Gills had been staggering when he got out of his truck and seemed to be intoxicated.

Sgt. Howard Hammers and Ptlm. Rick Whitaker located Randall W. Gills outside of his home at 1114 Morton Street and started to arrest him for careless and imprudent driving and peace disturbance. Gills punched Hammers in the eye. Hammers maced Gills and tried to handcuff him, but Gills continued to fight, at various times kicking Hammers, trying to hit him upon the head with a child’s swing, and trying to break Hammers’ neck by applying pressure to Hammers’ neck at an angle. During the struggle, Gills also grabbed the right thumb of Officer Rick Whitaker and tried to break it by bending it backwards.

Eventually the officers, who had been joined by Lt. Robert Bonney and deputies from the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Department were able to subdue Gills and arrest him.

Testing upon Gills blood later showed his alcohol level at .186%, well over the limit for proving intoxication. Testing also showed the presence of marijuana in his blood.

The injuries to the officers did not prove to be life-threatening nor incapacitating. All have fully recovered.

Gills was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the class A felony of first degree assault of a law enforcement officer for his attack upon Hammers. He was sentenced to one year in the county jail for the class A misdemeanor of resisting arrest. He was sentenced to one year in the county jail for the class A misdemeanor of assault of a law enforcement officer for his attack upon Whitaker. He was sentenced to 6 months in the county jail for the driving while intoxicated offense.

"Missouri law does not allow citizens to resist an arrest," said Lora E. Cooper, the assistant prosecuting attorney who handled the case for the Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. "When you are being arrested, you do not have the right to fight it out on the street with the police, even if you feel you are being unjustly arrested. The law requires you to submit peacefully to the arrest and then fight it out in a courtroom, not on the streets."