Police have been left "flabbergasted" after a man who coughed in an officer's face claiming to have Covid-19 was spared jail. .
Trevor Dangerfield, 39, was confronted by police on Carmel Heights in St Leonards, East Sussex, on Friday after a disturbance at a property.
He was arrested on suspicion of breaching the peace after becoming aggressive towards officers, Sussex Police said.
Dangerfield then coughed in the face of a policeman, saying he had coronavirus and "wanted to infect the officer and his family", the force added.
It comes as police forces around the country continue to face assaults as they work to enforce the nationwide lockdown rules.
Dangerfield pleaded guilty to assaulting an emergency worker at Brighton Magistrates' Court on Saturday.
He was sentenced to 18 weeks' imprisonment suspended for a year.
He was also ordered to pay £100 compensation and a victim surcharge of £156.
But Matt Webb, Sussex Police Federation chairman, said the court had failed to recognise the seriousness of the incident, calling the decision not to jail Dangerfield a "disgrace" and "flabbergasting".
He said: "The failure of the courts to recognise the seriousness of this incident and pass an appropriate sentence is staggering.
"Officers have been placed in an impossible position of trying to uphold hastily drawn-up legislation designed to protect the public and the NHS, in addition to their day-to-day business.
"When they are attacked in this way for simply doing their job, and are not supported by the judicial system, it is a disgrace.
"Any assault on an emergency service worker should attract a custodial sentence and in the current climate especially to not do so is flabbergasting."
Detective Inspector Steven Shimmons added: “Our officers should not have to deal with being assaulted while carrying out their duties to protect the public.
“The fact he coughed in an officer’s face and said he has Covid-19 is awful, but to then make direct reference to infecting the officer’s family is despicable and obviously distressing.
“We hope this conviction goes to show that any such behaviour will not be tolerated.”
