A Sharon man was sentenced Friday to 1 to 2 years in Mercer County Jail for assaulting a Southwest Mercer County Regional patrolman last year.

Steven A. Yount, 40, of 470 Ellsworth St., told Mercer County Common Pleas Judge Thomas R. Dobson he regretted the incidents that lead to his conviction.

"For what happened that day I'm very sorry," he said. "I thought they (the police) were going to hurt me."

During his arrest July 13, 2002, Yount resisted and kicked patrolman Keith M. Klamer several times in the knee. Yount was charged with fleeing and attempting to elude police, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest and aggravated assault.

Yount pleaded guilty Aug. 11 to aggravated assault and driving with a suspended license.

Klamer spoke to the court before Dobson handed down the sentence.

"I suffer pain every day," he said. Klamer said he was told by his doctors he will eventually need a total knee replacement. "I have trouble at work, I have trouble at home, even when I try to bend down to play with my children."

Klamer said he has undergone two surgeries and is scheduled for a third. "I will never be the same because of this."