NYPD cops facing charges in blinding

NYPD cops facing charges in blinding
THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS BY ALISON GENDAR AND ETHAN ROUEN
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU - Saturday, February 16th 2008

Four NYPD officers were arrested Friday for their roles in a Yonkers bar fight that ended with a bartender being blinded, police said.
Officers Michael McGhee, 30, and Thomas Wimmer, 25, were off-duty when they attacked Peter Cummins on Sept. 14 as he walked his girlfriend home from a McLean Ave. bar, authorities said Friday. Cummins, 26, told prosecutors that one of the off-duty cops insulted his girlfriend, sparking an argument. The cops then jumped him, delivering a savage beating, prosecutors said. Cummins lost his left eye in the assault.

NYPD Officers Jeffrey Alicea and Stella Ibanez were on patrol in the Bronx's 47th Precinct near the Yonkers border when they were called to the scene, not knowing off-duty cops were involved, authorities said. They arrived as McGhee was punching Cummins in the face, prosecutors said. Alicea, 32, and Ibanez, 39, initially arrested McGhee, who is assigned to the Bronx's 44th Precinct. But they freed him and let him leave after discovering he was a fellow officer, prosecutors said.

Wimmer, who has resigned from the NYPD, and McGhee, who has been suspended, pleaded not guilty to assault charges Friday.
"We deny that he's done anything wrong," said McGhee's lawyer, Howard Tanner. "He's cooperated fully with the investigation."
Alicea and Ibanez, who have both been suspended by the NYPD, pleaded not guilty to two counts of official misconduct.
A third man who was with the off-duty cops, Patrick Tully, 26, also was charged with assault.