FRANKLIN
Attorneys for a former police officer charged with aggravated assault on a state trooper said Friday their client did not reach for a loaded weapon as alleged.
Rosemont Avenue resident Brian Hinkel is free on $10,000 cash bail on charges of aggravated assault and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. Police seized a massive cache of guns and ammunition from Hinkel's property -- an arsenal state police said is the largest they've ever seen.
The cache included 259 weapons, a live grenade, about 500,000 rounds of ammunition, gunpowder and military items.
Vineland attorneys Joseph O'Neill and Charles Coant are representing the former Vineland police officer.
O'Neill said the idea of a former police officer deciding to pick up a gun in the presence of armed troopers makes no sense.
"He emphatically denies all that," Coant said. "He said he just got the coat and never pointed the weapon at anyone. It would be asinine as a former police officer. The trooper would have been armed and he wouldn't have done it."
Hinkel's legal problems started Monday when troopers went to his house to bring him in for questioning about burglaries in Salem County.
State police say Hinkel asked for a moment to get a jacket and in the process picked up a loaded weapon from a kitchen table. Troopers say they wrestled the gun away from him.
"I believe what our client has told us," O'Neill said. "Normally, we don't accept what our client tells us until we have testimony from the other side and then we confront our client with it."
Troopers have spent most of this week searching the house and property after discovering the large store of weapons and munitions.
State police are in the process of investigating whether the weapons found are legally in Hinkel's possession.
"That's going to be an extensive search," state police spokesman Sgt. Julian Castellanos said Friday.
Castellanos said there have been no developments in the case.
O'Neill said authorities still were at the Rosemont Avenue property on Friday.
He said he has not discussed with Hinkel the reason for the collection or whether the weapons were properly obtained. His firm wants to see the state's list of evidence first, he said.
"The search warrants apparently were obtained on the basis of this allegation that he attempted to pull a gun," O'Neill said, calling it another reason to doubt the charge against Hinkel.
"If there is something wrong with having weapons, why would he be drawing attention to the weapons by pulling a gun?" he said.
What led state police to Hinkel was the arrest last week of a Williamstown man in connection with a Jan. 15 burglary at an Upper Pittsgrove farm.
Anthony D'Alessandro, 42, was arrested in Malaga in a motor vehicle stop and charged with burglary and theft.
Another man, identified as Peter Monteleone Jr., was traveling with D'Alessandro but escaped on foot. Monteleone, 42, of Folsom, is still missing.
O'Neill said he has not asked Hinkel about the two men.
"We will not talk to Brian until after we get discovery," O'Neill said. "Otherwise, we'll be asking him stuff that may or may not be true."
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http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/182/story/389379.html
Attorneys for a former police officer charged with aggravated assault on a state trooper said Friday their client did not reach for a loaded weapon as alleged.
Rosemont Avenue resident Brian Hinkel is free on $10,000 cash bail on charges of aggravated assault and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. Police seized a massive cache of guns and ammunition from Hinkel's property -- an arsenal state police said is the largest they've ever seen.
The cache included 259 weapons, a live grenade, about 500,000 rounds of ammunition, gunpowder and military items.
Vineland attorneys Joseph O'Neill and Charles Coant are representing the former Vineland police officer.
O'Neill said the idea of a former police officer deciding to pick up a gun in the presence of armed troopers makes no sense.
"He emphatically denies all that," Coant said. "He said he just got the coat and never pointed the weapon at anyone. It would be asinine as a former police officer. The trooper would have been armed and he wouldn't have done it."
Hinkel's legal problems started Monday when troopers went to his house to bring him in for questioning about burglaries in Salem County.
State police say Hinkel asked for a moment to get a jacket and in the process picked up a loaded weapon from a kitchen table. Troopers say they wrestled the gun away from him.
"I believe what our client has told us," O'Neill said. "Normally, we don't accept what our client tells us until we have testimony from the other side and then we confront our client with it."
Troopers have spent most of this week searching the house and property after discovering the large store of weapons and munitions.
State police are in the process of investigating whether the weapons found are legally in Hinkel's possession.
"That's going to be an extensive search," state police spokesman Sgt. Julian Castellanos said Friday.
Castellanos said there have been no developments in the case.
O'Neill said authorities still were at the Rosemont Avenue property on Friday.
He said he has not discussed with Hinkel the reason for the collection or whether the weapons were properly obtained. His firm wants to see the state's list of evidence first, he said.
"The search warrants apparently were obtained on the basis of this allegation that he attempted to pull a gun," O'Neill said, calling it another reason to doubt the charge against Hinkel.
"If there is something wrong with having weapons, why would he be drawing attention to the weapons by pulling a gun?" he said.
What led state police to Hinkel was the arrest last week of a Williamstown man in connection with a Jan. 15 burglary at an Upper Pittsgrove farm.
Anthony D'Alessandro, 42, was arrested in Malaga in a motor vehicle stop and charged with burglary and theft.
Another man, identified as Peter Monteleone Jr., was traveling with D'Alessandro but escaped on foot. Monteleone, 42, of Folsom, is still missing.
O'Neill said he has not asked Hinkel about the two men.
"We will not talk to Brian until after we get discovery," O'Neill said. "Otherwise, we'll be asking him stuff that may or may not be true."
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http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/182/story/389379.html
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