A Suffolk jury entered its fifth day of deliberations Monday in a case that has featured sharply divided explanations of how a tourist on Fire Island suffered a ruptured bladder in police custody.
Prosecutors say Ocean Beach's former acting police chief, George Hesse, 40, of East Islip, caused the injury when he punched and stomped on the former Manhattan man, Sam Gilberd, 36, on Aug. 28, 2005. Hesse faces first-degree assault, gang assault and other charges.
Prosecutors say another officer, Arnold Hardman, 53, of St. James failed to seek medical attention for Gilberd and concealed the extent of his injuries. Hardman faces reckless endangerment, conspiracy and other charges.
Lawyers for both defendants say Gilberd ruptured his own bladder in a fall. After being ticketed for drunkenly smashing a glass outside a bar, Gilberd became belligerent and struggled with police, the defense lawyers have said. They say that during the scuffle, Gilberd fell on an aluminum scooter parked inside the police station and his bladder, swollen from hard drinking, tore open.
After one day of deliberations, an elderly male juror was hospitalized for a nosebleed and had to be replaced with an alternate.
Upon making the switch, State Supreme Court Justice William Condon instructed the group to begin deliberations anew.
In the days that followed, the group has asked for hours of testimony to be read back, including testimony from two Ocean Beach police officers who said they witnessed the attack and are now cooperating with prosecutors.
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