HILLSDALE, MI (WTVB) – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has charged a Sergeant at the Hillsdale County Sheriff’s Department with seven felonies for alleged assaults of a female County Jail inmate in December of 2021.
43-year-old Ronald Leggitt of Marshall has been placed on unpaid administrative leave by the Sheriff’s Department.
Nessel says the alleged assaults took place in the early morning hours of December 16th, 2021 when a woman was brought into custody at the jail, where Leggitt was supervising operations and staff.
Jail staff were told the woman had resisted officers during the arrest and during the booking process at the jail she continued to exhibit resistant and disruptive behavior.
A news release from the Attorney General’s office said it is alleged that for over 80 minutes, Leggitt assaulted the inmate six times with mace or pepper spray by allegedly spraying the chemical irritant into her face from a distance of mere inches. During five of the six alleged assaults, the victim was secured in an emergency restraint chair. She was restrained in wrist and ankle cuffs as well as a chest restraint.
Leggitt is charged with one count of Misconduct in Office and six counts of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon.
Each count is a four-year felony. Leggitt is scheduled to be arraigned before Magistrate Kristen Olden in Lenawee County on Friday, March 15.
The matter will be conducted in the Lenawee courts following recusals from the district and circuit court judges serving Hillsdale County.
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