An Owensboro man arrested last month for felony wanton endangerment after allegedly potentially exposing a police officer to COVID-19 will likely have the charge amended as a result of testing negative for the coronavirus, according to Daviess County Attorney Claud Porter.
The incident occurred April 20, when Owensboro Police Department responded to a disturbance call and subsequently arrested Eric Markwell, 21, for trafficking in marijuana and trafficking in a controlled substance.
According to a citation from OPD, Markwell purposefully blew into the face of an arresting officer before saying he had the coronavirus. That incident led to an additional charge of first-degree wanton endangerment.
Markwell told Owensboro Times he did not purposefully blow into the face of the officer and claimed that he had been trying to protect the officer by saying he’d had COVID-19.
In Kentucky, a person is charged with first-degree wanton endangerment when “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he wantonly engages in conduct which creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person.”
The charge is a Class D felony, punishable with fines of up to $10,000 and up to five years in prison.
“Based on what he said [to the officer], first-degree wanton endangerment still applies,” Porter said. “Based on the facts [of the negative test result], it does not fit. It’s probably not a serious physical injury.”
Owensboro Times obtained the test results from Markwell on Wednesday. Markwell was tested for COVID-19 at the Daviess County Detention Center through Owensboro Health Regional Hospital after his arrest. The negative test result was confirmed by Solaris Diagnostics the following day, on April 22.
Porter said he received a call from OPD explaining the situation to him the night of the incident. At the time, Porter didn’t see anything incorrect about the charges, he said.
“They’ll probably go back and change it,” Porter said Wednesday. “[Markwell] will probably have to agree to a stipulation of probable cause, that there was probable cause from the officers who charged him with wanton endangerment.”
Porter said that the wanton endangerment charge would likely be the result for the same or similar circumstance of someone blowing into the face of an officer and claiming to have the virus.
The two trafficking charges against Markwell will stick, but Porter said it’s possible the felony wanton endangerment charge could be amended to something less serious, such as disorderly conduct.
OPD previously said Markwell was supposed to have been in self-quarantine the night of his arrest.
Markwell said he’d never been tested for COVID-19 prior to the arrest, but that he and his girlfriend had already completed a two-week self-quarantine after his girlfriend had tested positive for the virus on April 3.
“We had a nurse who dropped off professional thermometers at our house, and then we had to take our temperature every day at 11 a.m.,” he said. “We were told she had to do a three-day isolation and I was to do a 14-day quarantine, which we both did.”
According to Markwell, as long as he didn’t present symptoms of the virus after that two-week self-quarantine, it was assumed he did not have COVID-19 and was free to leave his house.
Porter said almost every case presented to the court involves a circumstance of “he said, she said,” and that this one is no different. In the case of first-degree wanton endangerment, an individual’s intent — whether good or bad — doesn’t matter. Porter said it’s considered “wanton” as long as the individual being charged knowingly creates a risk.
Owensboro Times reached out to OPD, but they referred OT to the county attorney.
