Patriots cornerback Alfonzo Dennard is currently on trial for a felony charge of third-degree assault on a police officer, and the officer in question testified today that Dennard punched him in the jaw and caused him a significant amount of pain.
Lincoln, Nebraska, Police Officer Benjamin Kopsa testified that in April of last year he was in the process of arresting Dennard for getting into a fight with another man when Dennard began to get physical. At first, when Kopsa tried to handcuff Dennard, Dennard used one hand to push him away. Then, when Kopsa continued trying, Dennard used both hands to push him away. Finally, as Kopsa continued to handcuff Dennard, Dennard punched him in the jaw.
“I realized I had my hands full — and there was nobody else with me,” Kopsa said, via the Omaha World Herald.
“Did it hurt?” asked prosecutor Matt Acton.
“Yes,” Kopsa said. “On a scale of one to 10, it felt like an eight.”
Kopsa added that the punch felt “like a very hard object hitting me in the jaw.”
If Dennard is convicted of third-degree assault on an officer he could be sentenced to up to five years in prison. He is also facing misdemeanor counts of assault and resisting arrest, which each come with a sentence of up to one year in prison.