A former Camden County police officer has pleaded guilty to simple assault, an offense stemming from an arrest he made earlier this year.
As part of the plea, which was finalized Monday, the county Prosecutor's Office dropped its charge of making false reports against Douglas Dickinson, formerly an officer with the county Police Department. Dickinson, 28, is also barred from holding any public office in the future.
The plea, entered last month before a Superior Court judge in Camden, will allow Dickinson to avoid probation as long as he pays fines owed in the case.
The simple-assault charge, a disorderly persons offense, arose from an arrest Dickinson and other officers made in March in Camden. According to Dickinson's attorney, Jeffrey Zucker, a bystander recorded the arrest with his phone and turned the video over to the Prosecutor's Office. Investigators reviewed the police reports and identified discrepancies between the officers' accounts and the footage, Zucker said.
Dickinson was also charged in May with making false reports, an allegation related to the arrest of a 24-year-old Camden man who said Dickinson arrested him without cause and dislocated one of his elbows last November.
Quinzelle Bethea, the man arrested in November, spent about two weeks in jail after his arrest. Eventually all charges against him were dismissed.
Asked Tuesday if he was upset that prosecutors had dropped the charges against Dickinson related to his arrest, Bethea said he understood that plea agreements often call for charges to be dismissed.
"The important thing is that he's no longer there," he said. "The situation is really bigger than him, it's bigger than me. It ultimately affects the whole neighborhood."
Bethea also is pursuing a federal lawsuit against the county, alleging false arrest and malicious prosecution.
Dickinson, who started patrolling Camden in January 2015, was suspended from the force in June. Before joining the department, he worked for several months in 2013 at the Prosecutor's Office as a volunteer intern, under a program offered to college students and recent college graduates.
As a result of the investigation, the Prosecutor's Office dismissed 39 cases in which Dickinson would have been the sole witness called to testify.
The affected cases included pending matters as well as some that were resolved in plea agreements, according to County Prosecutor Mary Eva Colalillo. Most involved drug-distribution offenses, with others involving resisting arrest, weapons charges, and theft.
At least one man spent 11 months behind bars because he could not post bail after he said Dickinson falsely charged him with making threats and resisting arrest.
Zucker said the Prosecutor's Office initially considered moving to indict Dickinson for misconduct, a charge that would have carried the possibility of a prison sentence.
"He would have had a valid defense to that, but this is obviously a better outcome for him," Zucker said.
asteele@phillynews.com
856-779-3876@AESteele
No comments :
Post a Comment