Ex-New York police chief pleads guilty in civil rights case
Source: Associated Press
Ex-New York police chief pleads guilty in civil rights case
Frank Eltman, Associated Press
Updated 3:46 pm, Friday, February 26, 2016
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — A police chief who beat and threatened to kill a man who broke into his SUV and stole a bag of embarrassing personal items, including sex toys, pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to violating the suspect's civil rights.
Former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke, who led one of the country's largest suburban police departments, is expected to get over four years in prison in the case. He also admitted to conspiracy to obstruct justice by covering up the beating, which took place in a police station interrogation room in Smithtown on Long Island.
"He deeply regrets not being forthright," one of his attorneys, Nancy Bartling, said after the court proceeding.
The plea reflects "his deep desire to accept responsibility for his actions," she said, reading from a statement that she said Burke wrote. During the court proceeding, the ex-chief admitted that he, "along with others willfully used unreasonable force and slapped and hit this individual causing bodily injury."
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Ex-New-York-police-chief-pleads-guilty-in-civil-6856247.php
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