City manager says firefighter was beaten early Saturday outside Long Beach
By Matthew Chayes
Newsday (New York)
LONG BEACH, N.Y. — With about a dozen Long Beach firefighters looking on, two New York City police officers pleaded not guilty Thursday in the early morning off-duty assault of a local firefighter in Long Beach.
NYPD officers Douglas Rome, 25, and Jason Ragoo, 26, are accused of punching and kicking the firefighter after he objected to a rude remark they made to the firefighter’s sister outside a row of bars around 4 a.m. Saturday.
When the firefighter, Brian McNamara, 32, ran from the attack on West Beech Street and Virginia Avenue, the assailants followed him across the street and beat him again, Long Beach city manager Charles Theofan said Wednesday.
Seated in the first few rows of the Long Beach City courtroom Thursday, the firefighters in attendance eyed Rome and Ragoo. Theofan greeted the firefighters and watched the court proceeding.
Rome, of Rose Avenue in Floral Park, and Ragoo, of East Beech Street in Long Beach, were released on their own recognizance, with their next court date set for Nov. 5. The officers, who did not respond to a barrage of questions from reporters after the hearing, are being represented by union attorneys.
Authorities said a third man, who is still at large, also was involved. They did know know whether he is a police officer. There were originally four to five people in the group but only three participated in the assault, Theofan said.
At one point, a bystander, Andrew Romanelli, 27, of Long Beach, went to help McNamara, Theofan said. It was unclear whether he was injured.
With the assistance of the firefighter’s 22-year-old sister, Long Beach police later found the assailants a few blocks away from where the beatings took place, Theofan said. They were covered in blood, he said.
An NYPD spokesman Wednesday confirmed that Rome and Ragoo have been suspended without pay and that their guns have been confiscated.
McNamara and his sister did not know anyone in the group outside the bar, authorities said. Reached Wednesday afternoon, the sister declined to comment.
Her brother, who was taken to the hospital after the incident and released a few hours later, still has his eye swollen shut, authorities said. He was not available to comment Thursday morning.
Copyright 2008 Newsday (New York)