Federal prosecutors indicated other charges may be looming for accomplices who aided the cover-up. He has sued Burke and the Police Department, seeking damages. In the 2012 incident that led to his downfall, Burke was exacting revenge on a man who broke into his SUV that year. After 37 years, Suffolk County's police commissioner is retiring The case was notorious on Long Island. When the police later arrested a heroin user with the bag, Mr. Burke walked into the station house to confront the man, who was handcuffed to the floor of an interrogation room. [21] Burke violently assaulted a man in custody who had stolen a duffel bag from Burke's police vehicle. At that point, prosecutors said, Mr. Burke went out of control, screaming and cursing at Loeb and assaulting him until a detective finally said, Boss, thats enough, thats enough.. Witnesses said the chief "went out of control" after the handcuffed suspect called him a "pervert" during an interrogation - punching, screaming and cursing and threatening to kill him with a heroin overdose. On that day I went to the 4th precinct in Suffolk County. Suffolk County Police Department Information - Civil Service Success He had subordinates conduct surveillance on his girlfriends, prosecutors said. Burke became chief of the Suffolk County Police Department, one of the country's largest suburban police forces, in 2012 after having served for nearly a decade as the chief investigator for Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota. ), First published on November 2, 2016 / 5:48 PM. Former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke Sentenced to 46 Months The federal inquiry has since expanded beyond Mr. Burke to look into a broader pattern of possible corruption in both the police department and the office of the Suffolk County district attorney, Thomas J. Spota. Officers subpoenaed by FBI agents investigating the 2012 beating were interrogated afterward about whether they had talked, prosecutors said. But new allegations against Burke kept coming, including one that he brazenly sent a group text to 10 other cops asking them to cover up the case, and that he somehow Burke had access to secret grand jury deliberations in the case. When the police later arrested a heroin user with the bag, Mr.. Inside new mortgage fee rules, Retaining wall collapses in the Bronx due to severe weather. A commanding officer was assigned to warn witnesses that they could face retribution if they cooperated. In what has been called an "unusual move," he was then criminally prosecuted by Spota and McPartland. Long Island Serial Killer: Did Police Corruption Derail Investigation "Our investigation is ongoing," the US attorney said. / AP. Welcome to the official website of Suffolk County Sheriff's Office. There is no requirement for his cooperation in other cases or to testify against anyone else. After Mr. Burke was arrested, Judge Leonard Wexler took the unusual step of denying him bail, saying he posed a danger to the community.
