Man indicted in shooting of Pleasant Valley police officer
A Kansas City, Kan., man was indicted by a grand jury Tuesday in the shooting of a Pleasant Valley police officer during a traffic stop earlier this month.
Omar D. Maria, 31, will be tried in Clay County on felony charges of assault on a law enforcement officer in the first degree and armed criminal action. He is being held on a $1 million bond.
Pleasant Valley Police Officer Jacob Baldwin was shot in the face on Dec. 13 on Interstate 35 after he pulled a vehicle over just north of Interstate 435 for a registration violation. The driver of the stopped vehicle jumped out and fired several shots from a semiautomatic handgun toward the windshield of Baldwin’s police car before Baldwin could get out, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol.
Baldwin was struck in the face but was able to radio for help as the assailant got back in his vehicle and sped away.
Maria was arrested the next day after a brief standoff at a residence in Kansas City, Kan.
Baldwin, 37 and the father of a 7-year-old daughter, has been released from the hospital and is recovering, the Highway Patrol said. He served in the military in Iraq and has been on the Pleasant Valley police force for more than two years.
| Matt Campbell, mcampbell@kcstar.com
This story was originally published December 30, 2014 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Man indicted in shooting of Pleasant Valley police officer."