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State Police Chief Insists Resignation Not Admission of Guilt
By
Sabrina Jaszi
Published Mar 10, 2010
Modified Mar 10, 2010
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By
Sabrina Jaszi
Published Mar 10, 2010
Modified Mar 10, 2010
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Pedro Perez, the acting superintendent of the NY State Police, resigned yesterday amid an investigation into his intervening role in the domestic violence case of former Paterson aide David Johnson. He took over as chief just a week ago after Police Superintendent Harry Corbitt, also implicated in the scandal, stepped down. Perez claims he’s leaving not because he acted wrongly, but because he lacks support from the administration and his fellow officers. But Joseph Barrett, the president of the New York State Police Investigators Association, which represents detectives, says, "The position that the State Police find themselves in now is the result of the actions of a few high-ranking officers in management positions, and Acting Superintendent Perez was one of them."
In a letter to the governor, Perez called his actions concerning phone calls made to Sherr-una Booker—the woman who was in the process of filing an order of restraint against Paterson’s former aide—“honest and rightly motivated.” The Times now reports that State Troopers contacted Booker three times and were also in touch with the NYPD, trying to obtain records and information about Johnson’s case. Major Day, the state trooper who spoke with Booker, told Attorney General Cuomo that Perez authorized the intervention, but it’s unclear to what extent the higher up was aware of contact made after the initial phone call.
Even before Perez stepped down, two trooper unions had approved no-confidence votes and were preparing to make them public. "[Perez] was given the call," one source told the News.
Tagged
david johsnon
david paterson
domestic violence
gov paterson
Harry Corbitt
intervention
no-confidence vote
nypd
pedro perez
sherr-una booker
sherruna booker
state police
state police chief
state trooper
union
Sabrina Jaszi
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