Feds: Others could face charges in police chief beating case

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Frank Eltman, Associated Press
Updated 11:43 pm, Tuesday, November 1, 2016



Photo: Steve Pfost, AP

FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2015 file photo, former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke is escorted to a vehicle by FBI personnel outside an FBI office in Melville, N.Y. Federal prosecutors say Burke recruited a long list of accomplices to cover up his precinct house beating of a man suspected of stealing embarrassing items from his SUV, and have signaled that more people, including “high-ranking officials," could face charges. Burke is to be sentenced Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016. (Steve Pfost/Newsday via AP, File)



CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — A police chief who beat a handcuffed man bloody for stealing embarrassing items from his department vehicle faces more than four years in prison when he is sentenced Wednesday, and federal prosecutors are signaling that charges may be looming for accomplices who helped him cover up the crime.

In a letter to a judge this week, prosecutors said "high-ranking officials" from other county agencies helped Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke silence potential whistleblowers after he pummeled a heroin addict who had broken into his SUV and taken his gun belt, ammunition, a box of cigars and a bag containing sex toys and pornography.

Officers subpoenaed by FBI agents investigating the 2012 beating were brought in and interrogated about whether they had talked, prosecutors said. Some were warned that if they admitted wrongdoing, their union would not pay their legal fees. A commanding officer was assigned to warn witnesses that they could face retribution if they cooperated.

A union official falsely told several officers that Burke and "other high-ranking Suffolk County law enforcement authorities" had secretly obtained copies of FBI memos containing the names of people speaking with investigators.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Feds-Others-could-face-charges-in-police-chief-10463656.php

[Hassin Bin Sober]

1. Geez, this must be the guy the film Bad Lieutenant was based on.

[Coolest Ranger]

2. That one to the right

of the chief can escort me any day

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. "It ain't the crime that gets ya in trouble, it's the coverup"

As Nixon proved.

Can you imagine the cop's mind when he realized that his attempted cover up only resulted in MORE publicity about him keeping sex toys and porn in his car.?