A St. Paul police officer badly injured by an assailant during an arrest last summer said she had a message for the public after leaving the man’s sentencing hearing Tuesday.
“I just think it’s important the public know that things are changing and more officers are being assaulted,” Shannon Diedrich said.
When asked what she believes is the cause, Diedrich cited lighter sentences for offenders who she believes get sent back into the community too early, and the “negative atmosphere” police work in these days.
However, Diedrich said she was pleased with the sentence Ramsey County District Judge Judith Tilsen gave to the man who hurt her last August.
Tilsen sentenced Julius Tasha, 32, to three years of probation on one felony count of fourth-degree assault that resulted in demonstrable bodily harm to the officer. He also served 99 days in jail.
His attorney, Jenna Campion, had argued for her client be sentenced at a gross-misdemeanor level because he never intended to hurt Diedrich and struggles with mental health issues.
“My client still believes he is an FBI agent,” Campion told the judge. She added that he also recently believed he was being inhabited by an alien.
“The conduct in this case is significantly different then someone who just walks up to an officer and punches her,” Campion said. “The resulting harm, the level of harm, was not intended.
Tasha, who was homeless at the time, had stolen food from a Speedway in downtown St. Paul’s Lowertown area when Diedrich, who was working off-duty at the convenience store, grabbed his shirt and told him to put them back.
Instead, Tasha punched her repeatedly in the face and ran.
Diedrich pursued him, and they wrestled on the ground. He later bit another officer who was trying to take him into custody.
Diedrich was left with marks on her face, arm, hand and knee, and was taken to Regions Hospital for treatment.
She told the court Tuesday that the incident left her with a traumatic brain injury that rendered for unable to get out of bed for a time. It kept her out of work for three months, which added considerable stress for her and her wife as she is the primary breadwinner of their family.
She now lives with chronic pain, vision problems, and finds herself stuttering and unable to think as clearly as she once could.
“My brain will never be the same,” she said, adding that “not being able to care for your family makes you feel weak and vulnerable.”
She has since returned to full-time work for the police department.
“I love my job, but this has affected the way I do my job,” she said.
Tasha apologized for what he did when he got a chance to speak.
“What I did was very wrong,” he said, adding that police should be treated with respect.
“That is what we have out there, is police, that’s all we got,” he said.
Deidrich said after the hearing that she was glad Tilsen wasn’t swayed by the defense’s attempt to secure a shorter probation period of Tasha.
“I am glad he got the felony,” she said. “I think my statement made a difference.”