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Gaithersburg resident Jermaine Palmer was sentenced to 38 years in prison, suspending all but 21 to serve following an attack on officers in June 2023, authorities announced on Thursday.
Palmer did not go down quietly on June 30, 2023, after assaulting multiple officers who sought to take him into custody for breaking into a home, according to police.
Shortly after 8 p.m. on the night of the incident, officers were called to an apartment complex in the 7900 block of Spiceberry Circle in Gaithersburg, where there was a report of a man spraying a fire extinguisher in the hallway.
At the scene, officers found a woman who said that the fire extinguisher-wielding man - later identified as Palmer - also broke into her apartment.
When confronted by responding officers in the area of Washington Grove Lane and Mineral Spring Drive, police say that Palmer punched one in the face, knocking him to the ground, where he hit his head and was knocked unconscious.
He then fled toward the Flower Hill Shopping Center. The officer was taken to an area hospital for “serious but non-life-threatening injuries.”
Palmer was tracked to McDonald’s in the 18270 block of Flower Hill Way and when officers attempted to arrest him, he “actively resisted and repeatedly punched multiple officers.”
After a struggle, he was placed into custody, and a second officer had to be taken to an area hospital for treatment of his injuries during the scuffle.
On Monday, Aug. 5, the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office announced that Palmer was found guilty by a jury of:
- First- and second-degree assault on law enforcement;
- Second-degree assault;
- Resisting arrest;
- Possession of CDS: not cannabis.
Palmer faced up to 49 years in prison.
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