Monday, March 02, 2009

Fire Island's Reputation Under Scrutiny as Police Abuse Trial Begins

Fire Island's reputation as a safe getaway could come under scrutiny this week when a police abuse trial begins.

George Hesse, 40, the acting police chief of one of the island's main party towns, Ocean Beach, is charged with stomping a tourist so badly he needed emergency surgery.

Part-time Officer Arnold Hardman, 58, is accused of not telling paramedics the victim had been beaten and had instead overdosed on drugs.

Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota called them "thugs in police uniforms" and an example of "a police department gone wild."

The attack took place early on Aug. 28, 2005, after vacationing Samuel Gilberd, a Manhattan software exec, drunkenly threw a beer glass from a bar into the street. After he was given a summons for littering, he angrily kicked the station house door.

Hesse dragged Gilberd back into the station for a beating, Spota said, and when he was already unconcious, Hesse stomped on his mid-section so hard that he ruptured Gilberd's bladder.

Gilberd's wife, Kana Manglapus, found him out cold on the station house floor. He spent ten days in the hospital.

A week after the incident, the Ocean Beach cops filed charges of resisting arrest against Gilberd. They were later dismissed.

The chief and thee cops were indicted in 2007, a week after five officers he fired filed suit claiming he ran a corrupt department where cops routinely covered up police brutality.

When bringing the charges, Spota criticized Ocean Beach officials for quietly settling numerous police brutality lawsuits over the last two decades.

Over the last year, charges were dismissed against ex-NYPD officer William Emburey, 43. The fourth cop, Paul Carollo, 48, of Commack, has taken a plea in exchange for testifying.

Gilberd, who has also filed a $22 million civil suit against the village, has since moved to California but will return to testify.

Jury selection in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead will resume Tuesday.

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