Lawande Haggard
An alleged gang member who was charged with striking a Chattanooga Police officer with a vehicle was sentenced on Tuesday to 12 and a half years in federal prison.
Lawande Haggard, 30, appeared before Judge Sandy Mattice.
He got 10 years on the case involving the officer and two and a half years on a revocation of a prior federal charge. Haggard got an 80-month federal prison sentence in 2013 on drug-selling charges.
The term was reduced to 60 months based on a guideline sentencing range that has subsequently been lowered and made retroactive by the United States Sentencing Commission.
Haggard is one of the 54 alleged members of the Athens Park Bloods gang charged in a state RICO action.
The officer who was struck took the witness stand at the sentencing hearing.
It was noted that police were called to disperse a crowd that gathered on E. 3rd Street early on a Saturday morning last August. The officer said they heard the sound of shots fired. No one was hurt, but an SUV had two bullet holes in it.
The officer said an SUV driven by Haggard struck him in the thigh, spinning him around. He said he fired at the driver since the vehicle was headed toward another officer.
Haggard was stopped a short distance away near Erlanger Hospital.
He was charged with aggravated assault on police, felony reckless endangerment, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.