Post by WaTcHeR on Feb 14, 2007 15:19:03 GMT -5
PADUCAH, Ky. - A grand jury indicted a former deputy sheriff from western Kentucky on Friday, accusing him of falsely reporting that he had been shot by an unknown assailant.
Deputy Benny Harding, 52, of Paducah, was fired Wednesday, and the grand jury indicted him on six counts on Friday. Kentucky State Police Detective Jerry Jones testified that Harding's injuries were self-inflicted, police said in a statement.
Harding told investigators after being shot last October that an armed man confronted him as he investigated a suspicious car parked just outside the Paducah city limits, police said Friday. He told police the man pointed a gun at his chest but that he was able to deflect the weapon away before it fired, hitting him in the shoulder.
Besides the false report charge, Harding was charged with tampering with physical evidence, fraudulent insurance acts over $300, first-degree criminal mischief, theft by deception over $300 and first degree official misconduct, police said.
He was being held in the Ballard County jail Friday night, a spokeswoman there said. Bond had not yet been set.
Neither state police nor jail officials knew Friday night whether Harding had retained a lawyer.
www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/state/16666043.htm
Deputy Benny Harding, 52, of Paducah, was fired Wednesday, and the grand jury indicted him on six counts on Friday. Kentucky State Police Detective Jerry Jones testified that Harding's injuries were self-inflicted, police said in a statement.
Harding told investigators after being shot last October that an armed man confronted him as he investigated a suspicious car parked just outside the Paducah city limits, police said Friday. He told police the man pointed a gun at his chest but that he was able to deflect the weapon away before it fired, hitting him in the shoulder.
Besides the false report charge, Harding was charged with tampering with physical evidence, fraudulent insurance acts over $300, first-degree criminal mischief, theft by deception over $300 and first degree official misconduct, police said.
He was being held in the Ballard County jail Friday night, a spokeswoman there said. Bond had not yet been set.
Neither state police nor jail officials knew Friday night whether Harding had retained a lawyer.
www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/state/16666043.htm