Wednesday, March 28, 2007

The Only Ones Girls Gone Wild Enough

March 28, 2007 -- "Fire Island's Ocean Beach is a lawless site of cops "gone wild," the district attorney claimed yesterday, warning that several officers - and even the mayor - could be charged in a massive scandal in which police allegedly roughed up tourists, had sex on duty and dumped evidence.

Suffolk County DA Thomas Spota's made the shocking announcement that he was further probing the troubled police force as four of its members were being arraigned for allegedly brutalizing a Manhattan businessman in their custody two years ago.

"It was a police department gone wild," Spota said at Suffolk County Supreme Court in Riverhead. "I think there was no control at all."

Acting Police Chief George Hesse, 38, yesterday was arraigned on the most serious charge of first-degree assault in the case of 31-year-old Manhattanite Samuel Gilberd, who claims he was stomped unconscious after he threw a beer bottle outside a bar in Ocean Beach, a popular Fire Island tourist town.

Prosecutors say Gilberd suffered a ruptured bladder and internal urine leakage after two other officers dragged him to the back of the station house for Hesse to assault.

The DA says Gilberd was left lying on a floor for hours before the cops allowed a medical team to evacuate him by helicopter to the hospital.

Another officer is alleged to have watched the assault without offering assistance.

Spota said yesterday the department and village officials, including the mayor, could face charges related to additional brutality cases and possible cover-ups in Ocean Beach.

The irate DA slammed police brass and local politicos for quietly handling several complaints over the years without taking action to reform the department.

The four cops, who made no comment yesterday, were backed up in court by dozens of supporters, including Ocean Beach Mayor Joseph Loeffler.

Spota said he'd possibly file charges against Loeffler for any role in cover-ups regarding police wrongdoing.

"Village officials had their heads in the sand," Spota said.

The court crowd included two former Ocean Beach cops, who have sued the department for $345 million, claiming Hesse wrongfully fired them for blowing the whistle on misconduct.

Former Officer Kevin Lamm said outside of court that he witnessed on-duty drinking and sexual activity, routine destruction of evidence and unwarranted beatings of detainees.

Lamm said he and other officers were instructed to ferry superiors to the homes of various women for sexual trysts.

"He is a disgrace to the uniform," Lamm said of Hesse.

At the arraignment, Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Robert Biancavilla said Gilberd was dragged to a station house backroom by Officers Paul Carollo, 44, and Arnold Hardman, 51. There, Hesse repeatedly stomped on his midsection, Gilberd said.

After what prosecutors said was an unnecessary delay, Gilberd was transported to a hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery.

Hesse pleaded not guilty to a slew of felony counts and posted $100,000 bail yesterday.

Carollo and Hardman also pleaded not guilty to lesser counts, including unlawful imprisonment and hindering prosecution.

They each posted $10,000 bail.

Another officer, 20-year retired NYPD Sgt. William Emburey, 42, pleaded not guilty to charges that he failed to properly assist Gilberd, and posted $10,000 bail.

Hesse's attorney, William Keahon, told the court that Gilberd suffered the internal injuries after falling and hitting a piece of furniture in the station house.

He painted Gilberd as a violent drunk who trumped up the brutality charges to score a civil-suit payday.

But Spota called that version of events a "fantasy," adding that Ocean Beach cops routinely falsified documents and hindered his office's investigation into the Gilberd incident."

Another day, another small burg infected with more lawlessness from it's "protectors" than anything a criminal could imagine.

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