LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- Danta Watts Jr., 22 of Louisville, was sentenced to 18 years in prison Tuesday morning. He pleaded guilty in December to drug trafficking and shooting at two Metro police officers - Jody Speaks and Jeffrey Lauder, on Dec. 7, 2010.
“It was close to ending disastrously because if that officer had been killed, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Judge A.C. McKay Chauvin said in a Jefferson County Circuit courtroom. “We would be sitting in a jury and the Commonwealth would be asking to put you to death.”
Officer Speaks was shot in the back after responding to a call in Portland. He was injured, but survived. The officer returned fire while Watts was running away. He was arrested three blocks away from the shooting after a police chase.
Watts will be heading to prison for two counts of attempted murder of a police officer, along with several other charges related to his arrest during a situation that could have been much worse than it was.
“You could have easily been killed that night,” Chauvin said. “Those officers were probably well in their rights, in fact, their obligation to return fire and kill you."
