By
Ruth Ann Krause
A
former Gary police officer has pleaded guilty to attempted battery in a
February 2012 dispute with a Gary firefighter over a woman in which he pulled a
gun and fired shot into the air.
In
a plea agreement, Laron Leslie, 29, pleaded to the lesser charge in exchange
for getting one year on probation. He had been charged with intimidation.
Leslie
admitted in court that he and Gary firefighter Sheldon Skinner had an
altercation and that he swung at Skinner, intending to strike him.
The
dispute occurred in the 400 block of North Lake Street, outside an apartment
complex where Skinner had been called to meet the woman, who had been seeing
both Leslie and Skinner and accepting money from Skinner, according to court
records.
Leslie
told Skinner to leave and that the woman wasn’t Skinner’s girl anymore, then
threatened Skinner with a gun, firing several shots into the air, according to
prosecutors.
Leslie
was fired from the police force in May 2012 for testing positive for marijuana
after a one-car crash in his take-home squad car in September 2011.