AIDS Victim Charged With Assault for Spitting

FLINT, Mich. —  A confirmed AIDS victim who allegedly spat on four police officers during a traffic arrest was charged Friday with assault with intent to murder.

John Richards of Davison was charged with the felony warrant and held in county jail because “it appears the man knows he has AIDS and was trying to transmit it by spitting on the officers,” said assistant Genesee County prosecutor John McGraw.

A physician consulted during a police investigation preceding authorization of the warrant said he did not think the AIDS virus could be transmitted by spitting.

Dr. Willis Mueller said he told Sgt. Michael Ahearne “that AIDS is transmitted from blood and intimate contact. I told him I didn’t think his people were at risk.”

Richards “has been confirmed as being positive” for the presence of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, Mueller said.

Police responded to a traffic accident about 2:30 a.m. Friday and were trying to arrest Richards when he allegedly spat on four of them and said he was trying to contaminate them with the AIDS virus, McGraw said.