Princeton woman gets 3 years for spitting in cop’s face, damaging squad car

A Princeton woman was sentenced Thursday to 3 years in prison for spitting in a La Salle officer’s face and then damaging a police cruiser.

When offered a chance to speak, 32-year-old Amanda J. Mansker said she accepted full responsibility for her actions and apologized, but also noted the incident occurred when she was off her medications.

“I’m just asking for the chance to prove I’m a good citizen,” Mansker said tearfully.

But a LaSalle County judge decided Mansker had passed on too many shots at court-supervised mental health treatment to believe she would comply with last-chance probation. Judge Cynthia M. Raccuglia instead sentenced her to the minimum three years. Coupled with about six months’ time served and a shot at day-for-day good time, Mansker could be paroled in late 2021 or early 2022.

Mansker was charged in June after LaSalle police responded to a domestic disturbance, during which she spat in the officer’s face and then caused $845 in damages the squad car.

Assistant public defender Doug Kramarsic asked for probation, calling Mansker’s record “relatively small” and arguing that mental issues “clearly” were a factor in the June disturbance. Mansker also has several dependents for whom prison would pose a hardship.

“I feel like a jump to the Department of Corrections would be a major leap,” he said.

But prosecutor Jeremiah Adams said Mansker displayed an “extraordinary reaction” to police intervention and further cited a probation report, sealed to the public, that apparently found her unlikely to comply with mental health treatment.

Raccuglia agreed Mansker was a poor candidate for probation and that this made her a danger to the public.

“Until you accept you have a problem,” the judge said, “(prison) is where we need to put you until you come to terms with the fact you have a serious problem.”