SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. — A police officer will have physical limitations for the rest of their life after a man who admitted to huffing paint attacked them during an arrest.
James Murrow, 26, of Breckenridge, pleaded guilty on Monday to second-degree assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.
On the evening of Oct. 15, 2017, police with the Dillon and Breckenridge police departments found Murrow lying in the street, speaking and mumbling incoherently, according to the Fifth Judicial District Attorney’s Office. He started acting aggressively as law enforcement arrived. At one point, he struck a Dillon sergeant as she tried to arrest him. He struck another officer when he started “wildly kicking and throwing punches,” according to the district attorney’s office.
After he was arrested, Murrow admitted to huffing paint. He also said he was on ketamine, which is a Schedule III controlled substance.
The injured officer had to undergo several surgeries since the incident. The district attorney’s office said they will have physical limitations for the rest of their life as a result.
“We owe our respect and sometimes even our lives to police officers, the thin blue line who protect us every day,” said Bruce Brown, Fifth Judicial District Attorney. “There simply is no place for violence towards those men and women.”
Morrow will face his sentencing, which could land him up to six years in prison, on Jan. 28, 2019.
