Don’t Throw Water on the Police in Louisiana

Governor John Bel Edwards, late Friday, signed a new measure into law that now makes it a crime to splash a peace officer with water.

My first thought was that it seems like common sense that throwing water on a cop would be seen as an assault on that officer. However, no law before last Friday specifically stated that officially.

The new bill amends an old law that had excluded water from the list of liquids that would constitute a criminal charge of battery on an officer.

This exact thing happened in Houma last year.  You can see in a cellphone video from a bystander that as an officer is walking away from a group of people crowding him, a bucket of water is hurled toward the officer, dousing him with water.

Now, a person who splashes water on a Louisiana police officer will face fines and/or incarceration. Penalties for this action will be no more than $500 and between 15 days and six months incarceration without the benefit of suspension of sentence. If the officer needs medical attention or is injured from the action, the penalty rises to a fine of no more than $1,000 or between one and five years incarceration with or without hard labor.

Govenor Edwards also signed another bill that places additional penalties for second-time offenders.