A University of Florida senior accused of spitting on a campus police officer while his classmates were being arrested during pro-Palestinian protests accepted a plea deal Wednesday that avoids any time behind bars.
Circuit Judge Phillip A. Pena lectured Allan Hektor Frasheri, 21, of Largo, Florida, in the courtroom, telling him that spitting on a police officer was “demeaning, it’s inappropriate and unnecessary.”
Pena also required Frasheri to write a letter of apology to the officer, Maj. Kristy Sasser.
“This is much more offensive and distasteful than pushing someone,” Pena said.
Frasheri will spend 18 months on probation and undergo a mental health evaluation under the plea agreement. He was kicked out of UF before he graduated over the incident and suspended for four years. The university also banned him from all campus property for three years.
On video recorded that day by the Florida Highway Patrol, Frasheri is seen holding a water bottle as Sasser and other police officers walk past him with a classmate already in custody. Frasheri thrusted his face toward the officers. Sasser said he spit on her arm, and she arrested him as he walked away.
Frasheri was the only protester charged with a felony – battery on a police officer – after he and eight others were arrested on UF’s campus April 29 during a demonstration against Israeli violence in Gaza responding to the Hamas attack in last October. He spent two days in jail in the case after his arrest.
Nearly all the other protesters – including five other UF students – already accepted plea agreements in their misdemeanor cases.
Frasheri said he regrets “some of the actions I’ve done,” but he doesn’t regret protesting that day on campus. He said he is still planning to transfer to another college or university to finish his degree. He said he was a philosophy and economics double major at UF.
“I’m happy to finally put this behind me,” he said. He added: “Ideally I would transfer and finish up my bachelor’s degree.”
Frasheri and his public defender, Daniel Sarafan, sought to persuade the State Attorney’s Office to reduce the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor or defer prosecution entirely, but prosecutors declined, he said.
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