Former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke was arrested today on charges of assaulting a man in custody, conspiring to cover up the assault and then obstructing the federal civil rights investigation that followed, according to prosecutors.
Burke, a 51-year-old resident of Smithtown, is accused of beating a handcuffed man in a Suffolk County Police Department interrogation room and then pressuring detectives who witnessed the beating to cover up the event.
Burke resigned two months ago amid a federal investigation into the assault.
The victim of the assault was Christopher Loeb, who was arrested at his mother’s home in Smithtown in December 2012 for probation violations, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.
During Loeb’s arrest, officers conducted a search of his residence and discovered a large stockpile of stolen goods that had been taken from more than a dozen vehicles – including the chief’s SUV.
Burke was permitted to enter the residence and retrieve the bag that Loeb had stolen from his vehicle, which included a gun belt, several magazines of ammunition, a box of cigars and a humidor, prosecutors said.
He then drove to the department’s fourth precinct, where detectives were interrogating Loeb, and beat him while he was handcuffed and chained to an eyebolt fastened to the floor, kicking and punching Loeb in the head and body, according to prosecutors.
When the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office opened an investigation of the assault five months later, Burke summoned detectives to county police department headquarters and pressured them to agree to a “false version of events” that concealed the assault, according to officials, which resulted in a detective allegedly giving false testimony under oath.
Burke’s indictment was unsealed today by FBI and United States Attorney officials, who charged him with assaulting Loeb and therefore violating his civil rights as well as conspiracy to obstruct a federal civil rights investigation.
“Today, former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke finds himself on the opposite end of the very laws he was sworn to uphold,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Diego Rodriguez today. “When an officer’s actions threaten to obstruct the integrity of an investigation, they unjustly call into question the reputation of those among them who respectfully adhere to the code of ethics so valued by the law enforcement community.”
Burke will be arraigned this afternoon at the federal courthouse in Central Islip.
