Veteran with PTSD Gets Jail for Officer Assault

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - An Iraq war veteran convicted of assaulting a Rapid City police officer has been sentenced to serve a little less than a year in jail.

Thirty-year-old Delano Eagle faced up to five years in prison for the Feb. 26 incident after being found guilty last month of simple assault on a police officer and resisting arrest and pleading guilty to third-offense drunken driving.

The Rapid City Journal reports that Judge Mary Thorstenson said she agonized over the sentence because Eagle suffered a head injury in Iraq and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. She sentenced him to 300 days behind bars and five years of probation, with a warning that any further criminal activity or alcohol abuse would land him in the State Penitentiary.

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