{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-508.025","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 508.025","heading":"Assault in the third degree.","body":"(1) A person is guilty of assault in the third degree when the actor:\n(a) Recklessly, with a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, or intentionally\ncauses or attempts to cause physical injury to:\n1. A state, county, city, or federal peace officer;\n2. An employee of a detention facility, or state residential treatment facility\nor state staff secure facility for residential treatment which provides for\nthe care, treatment, or detention of a juvenile charged with or\nadjudicated delinquent because of a public offe nse or as a youthful\noffender;\n3. A healthcare provider as defined in KRS 311.821 or other person\nemployed by or under contract with a health clinic, doctor's office,\ndental office, long -term care facility, hospital, or a hospital -owned or\naffiliate outpatient facility, if the event occurs in or on the premises of a\njail, penitentiary, local or state correctional or detention facility,\nincluding a facility which provides for the care, treatment, or detention\nof a juvenile charged with or adjudicated delinqu ent because of a public\noffense or as a youthful offender, health clinic, doctor's office, dental\noffice, long-term care facility, hospital, or a hospital -owned or affiliate\noutpatient facility;\n4. An employee of the Department for Community Based Services\nemployed as a social worker to provide direct client services, if the\nevent occurs while the worker is performing job-related duties;\n5. Paid or volunteer emergency medical services personnel certified or\nlicensed pursuant to KRS Chapter 311A, if the even t occurs while\npersonnel are performing job-related duties;\n6. A paid or volunteer member of an organized fire department, if the\nevent occurs while the member is performing job-related duties;\n7. Paid or volunteer rescue squad personnel affiliated with the Division of\nEmergency Management of the Department of Military Affairs or a\nlocal disaster and emergency services organization pursuant to KRS\nChapter 39F, if the event occurs while personnel are  performing job -\nrelated duties;\n8. A probation and parole officer;\n9. A transportation officer appointed by a county fiscal court or legislative\nbody of a consolidated local government, urban -county government, or\ncharter government to transport inmates wh en the county jail or county\ncorrectional facility is closed while the transportation officer is\nperforming job-related duties;\n10. A public or private elementary or secondary school or school district\nclassified or certified employee, school bus driver, o r other school\nemployee acting in the course and scope of the employee's employment;\nor\n11. A public or private elementary or secondary school or school district\nvolunteer acting in the course and scope of that person's volunteer\nservice for the school or school district;\n(b) Being a person confined in a detention facility, or a juvenile in a state\nresidential treatment facility or state staff secure facility for residential\ntreatment which provides for the care, treatment, or detention of a juvenile\ncharged with or adjudicated delinquent because of a public offense or as a\nyouthful offender, inflicts physical injury upon or throws or causes feces, or\nurine, or other bodily fluid to be thrown upon an employee of the facility; or\n(c) Intentionally causes a pe rson, whom the actor knows or reasonably should\nknow to be a peace officer discharging official duties, to come into contact\nwith saliva, vomit, mucus, blood, seminal fluid, urine, or feces without the\nconsent of the peace officer.\n(2) (a) For a violation of subsection (1)(a) of this section, assault in the third degree\nis a Class D felony, unless the offense occurs during a declared emergency as\ndefined by KRS 39A.020 arising from a natural or man -made disaster, within\nthe area covered by the emergency dec laration, and within the area impacted\nby the disaster, in which case it is a Class C felony.\n(b) For a violation of subsection (1)(b) of this section, assault in the third degree\nis a Class D felony.\n(c) For violations of subsection (1)(c) of this section, assault in the third degree is\na Class B misdemeanor, unless the assault is with saliva, vomit, mucus, blood,\nseminal fluid, urine, or feces from an adult who knows that he or she has a\nserious communicable disease and competent medical or epidemiologica l\nevidence demonstrates that the specific type of contact caused by the actor is\nlikely to cause transmission of the disease or condition, in which case it is a\nClass A misdemeanor.\n(d) As used in paragraph (c) of this subsection, \"serious communicable dis ease\"\nmeans a non -airborne disease that is transmitted from person to person and\ndetermined to have significant, long-term consequences on the physical health\nor life activities of the person infected.","path":["KRS Chapter 508"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=57265","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T21:00:01Z","sha256":"20fe6e2571baea140382335aad4d380712b434bb3f1c69ab9f0a39d5773ddad3","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-508.022","next":"us-ky/krs-508.030"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}