RIVERHEAD - A grand jury charged the acting chief and three others in what a prosecutor called a rampaging police force Tuesday with the severe beating of a tourist accused of littering.
Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota promised that the indictments were the first phase of an investigation into police in Ocean Beach, a popular summer vacation village known for enforcing minor and quirky ordinances.
“It was a police department gone wild. There was no control at all,” Spota said.
Acting Chief George Hesse, 38, is charged with first-degree assault, gang assault and unlawful imprisonment in the August 2005 altercation with Samuel Gilberd.
A bouncer at a bar across the street from the police department accused Gilberd, a software executive visiting from New York City, of littering and took him over to be cited. The officers dragged him into a room and kicked him in the stomach, said D. Carl Lustig III, the lawyer representing Gilberd in his federal lawsuit seeking millions from the village and the department.
Gilberd, 34, suffered severe internal injuries, including a ruptured bladder that required 10 days in a hospital, Assistant District Attorney Bob Biancavilla said. Gilberd still visits a urologist and is undergoing psychiatric care, Lustig said.
The officers “acted as thugs in police uniforms,” Spota said.
Hesse's lawyer, William Keahon, contended Gilberd was intoxicated and suggested he hurt himself in a fall.
“This is about a fellow that was drunk, on drugs, injured himself and now wants to sue,” Keahon contended.
Lustig did not dispute that his client had been drinking, but said medical reports showed his client had no drugs in his system.
Part-time officers Paul Carollo, 46, Arnold Hardman, 51, and William Emburey, 42, are charged with a variety of crimes including unlawful imprisonment, reckless endangerment and hindering prosecution.
Hesse posted $100,000 bail; the others posted $10,000 each.
All four defendants displayed no emotion as they pleaded not guilty.
Emburey's lawyer, John Ray, said the confrontation occurred on his client's first night on the job.
He said Emburey had nothing to do with the allegations and was charged only because it happened on his shift.
“It was a police department gone wild. There was no control at all,” Spota said.
Acting Chief George Hesse, 38, is charged with first-degree assault, gang assault and unlawful imprisonment in the August 2005 altercation with Samuel Gilberd.
A bouncer at a bar across the street from the police department accused Gilberd, a software executive visiting from New York City, of littering and took him over to be cited. The officers dragged him into a room and kicked him in the stomach, said D. Carl Lustig III, the lawyer representing Gilberd in his federal lawsuit seeking millions from the village and the department.
Gilberd, 34, suffered severe internal injuries, including a ruptured bladder that required 10 days in a hospital, Assistant District Attorney Bob Biancavilla said. Gilberd still visits a urologist and is undergoing psychiatric care, Lustig said.
The officers “acted as thugs in police uniforms,” Spota said.
Hesse's lawyer, William Keahon, contended Gilberd was intoxicated and suggested he hurt himself in a fall.
“This is about a fellow that was drunk, on drugs, injured himself and now wants to sue,” Keahon contended.
Lustig did not dispute that his client had been drinking, but said medical reports showed his client had no drugs in his system.
Part-time officers Paul Carollo, 46, Arnold Hardman, 51, and William Emburey, 42, are charged with a variety of crimes including unlawful imprisonment, reckless endangerment and hindering prosecution.
Hesse posted $100,000 bail; the others posted $10,000 each.
All four defendants displayed no emotion as they pleaded not guilty.
Emburey's lawyer, John Ray, said the confrontation occurred on his client's first night on the job.
He said Emburey had nothing to do with the allegations and was charged only because it happened on his shift.
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