Man pleads guilty to spitting on cop who body-slammed him

CHICAGO (AP) — A man who was body-slammed by a Chicago police officer during a 2019 arrest has pleaded guilty to spitting into the officer’s face just before the incident. Thirty-one-year-old Bernard Kersh pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor count of battery. In exchange for his guilty plea, Cook County prosecutors dropped aggravated battery and other charges Kersh had faced. The Chicago Tribune reports a judge sentenced him to about a year in prison, which effectively amounts to time served. A cellphone video of the November 2019 body-slamming incident drew outrage and concern, with Mayor Lori Lightfoot calling it “very disturbing.”