Michael Geraci Jr. to turn himself in Friday in Albany case; lawyer says video doesn’t show guilt
Copyright 2006 The Hearst Corporation
By BRENDAN LYONS
The Times Union
ALBANY, N.Y. — A suspended Albany police officer is scheduled to turn himself in Friday and be charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly roughing up a 73-year-old man in a station-house garage last December.
Cheryl Coleman, an attorney for Officer Michael N. Geraci Jr., said the impending charges, which could cost Geraci his job, are based largely on a police surveillance tape that she said doesn’t show the officer doing anything inappropriate.
Coleman and Geraci have spent the past two weeks in pre-arrest plea negotiations with Albany County prosecutors and were allowed to review the tape and other evidence in the case, she said. The video, which has not been publicly disclosed, shows Geraci attempting to coax the handcuffed man out of a police van before finally grabbing and pulling him by the legs because he refused orders to climb out after kicking at the officer, according to Coleman.
Law enforcement officials who have reviewed the surveillance film said it shows the man’s upper body hitting the ground hard as Geraci pulls him from the van by his ankles. They also said the suspect was subsequently rammed head-first into a door as he was carried into a booking area. But Coleman said she saw no evidence of that on the tapes they were allowed to review.
“Everybody’s going to have their own take on the video,” Coleman said. “But there’s no repeated contact between them. It’s literally the one pull and the one impact (as the man hits the ground).”
The incident unfolded Dec. 30 when John Albert Behrmann, a retired dentist from Saratoga County, was arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct and public intoxication. Behrmann, who suffers from severe alcoholism and lives in publicly subsidized housing near the South End, was arrested for refusing to leave a Madison Avenue restaurant where he was holding an open bottle of liquor and screaming obscenities at patrons, according to court records. He was later arrested, put in a police wagon and transported to the South Station on Arch Street to be booked on the minor charges.
Behrmann was in at least two altercations before he was arrested by police that night, including being punched in the face by a customer in the restaurant where he stirred up trouble, authorities said.
Geraci’s attorney contends it’s arguable whether Behrmann’s injuries, including deep bruises to his back and arms, were a result of being pulled from the van.
If he turns himself in on Friday as scheduled, Geraci would be the first member of the force charged with assault since October 1997, when Officers William Bonanni and Sean McKenna were charged with assaulting a handcuffed college student in the same police garage. The pair were later cleared of criminal charges and returned to duty.
Geraci, the 28-year-old son of Schenectady Police Chief Michael Geraci, was suspended by Chief James Tuffey on March 3, along with a civilian van driver who allegedly witnessed the incident but did not report it.
A half-hour after Behrmann’s arrest, a Mohawk ambulance was dispatched to Arch Street and he was taken to Stratton VA Medical Center Hospital for treatment, according to a copy of the ambulance report. Behrmann later pleaded guilty in City Court to disorderly conduct. He was not fined or sentenced to any jail time but ordered to pay a $95 court surcharge.
Geraci had been working in the booking area for about seven months and was aware cameras recorded his every move, Coleman said, adding that Behrmann refused the officer’s orders to get out of the van.
If the case moves forward, Coleman said Geraci is anxious for the public to see all of the evidence in the case.
“Like a lot of people who have a false accusation made against them, he wants really to be able to fast forward to the point in time where he can show the lack of truth in all this,” Coleman said. “He wants his name back. But he knows he faces a long process before all that can happen and that’s the hard part for him.”