Joplin man who assaulted police officer receives suspended sentence

A Joplin man who assaulted a police officer with pepper spray while attempting to resist arrest will spend no time in jail.

During a change of plea hearing this morning in Jasper County Circuit Court, Judge Gayle Crane sentenced Michael Yarga, 35, to seven years in prison for the assault and one year in the Jasper County Jail on the misdemeanor resisting arrest charge, then suspended the sentence and placed Yarga on probation for five years.

After Yarga used pepper spray on a Joplin Police Department officer in an alley west of Connor Avenue on 9th Street, a second officer, believing Yarga was about to grab the officer's gun, shot him, according to the probable cause statement.