By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A St. Joseph police officer accused of slapping a handcuffed suspect has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and resigned from the force.
Buchanan County Prosecutor Ron Holliday reports former St. Joseph Police Sergeant James Langston entered his guilty plea before Buchanan County Circuit Judge Rebecca Spencer.
Langston pleaded guilty to assaulting Navada McEvoy while McEvoy was in his custody. The probable cause statement filed in the case alleges Langston struck McEvoy with an open hand multiple times while McEvoy was in handcuffs and not resisting officers. McEvoy was not injured in the assault.
Under a plea agreement reached with the Buchanan County Prosecutor’s Office, Langston agreed to resign from the St. Joseph Police Department and surrender his peace officer license to the state of Missouri.
In a news release, Buchanan County Prosecutor Ron Holliday pointed out he began his career as an Overland Park, Kansas police officer before entering law school.
“Therefore, I know firsthand that police officers face a difficult job every single day and must make instantaneous decisions while in high stress situations,” Holliday says in a written statement. “The power police officers hold means we must hold them to a high standard. The position of police officer gives them greater power, which in turn means they also must be subject to greater scrutiny than other professions. We expect all officers to uphold the law in a fair and impartial manner, and to not abuse the power we give them.
The right of a law enforcement officer to exert any amount of force against a suspect ends when that person is in custody, restrained by handcuffs, and not in any way further resisting.”
Holliday says officers must protect any person under arrest. Holliday says he agreed to recommend probation if Langston resigned and surrendered his peace officer license. Holliday also commends how the St. Joseph Police Department handled the investigation, saying the Chief of Police notified him of the investigation within hours of the incident.
“It is often said that the police must ‘police’ their own,” Holliday says. “This is exactly what the St. Joseph Police Department did in this case.”