The Nassau County DA's Office announced that three high-ranking police officials were indicted on charges that they "conspired to and intentionally prevented the arrest of a teenager whose father was a financial benefactor of the police." Deputy Police Commissioner William Flanagan—who retired last night as word of the indictment came down—as well as Deputy Chief of Patrol John Hunter and former deputy commander Alan Sharpe have pleaded not guilty to the damning accusations. Here's how the Post characterized it, "A Manhattan accountant wined and dined top Nassau County cops to to the tune of $17,000' at pricey Long Island eateries as he literally called the shots in their eager efforts to kill a burglary probe into his druggie son."
Back in May 2009, thousands of dollars worth of electronics equipment were stolen from John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore. Zachary Parker, then 18 and a civilian member of the Nassau police ambulance unit, stole the equipment, but he was never arrested, apparently thanks to his father Gary Parker's maneuvering.
According to Newsday, "[Zachary Parker's lawyer Marc] Gann said Parker's father, Gary Parker, who has friends in the police department, contacted school and police officials and asked them to handle the incident as a civil rather than a criminal matter." What followed was a months-long process to try to get the school to drop the criminal complaint and accept the stolen property back (PDF of the indictment); the police also allegedly lied, claiming that the school dropped the criminal complaint. So the teen was never arrested—until last fall by the DA's office, and the Post reports he has been "pulled over no less than 20 times by cops for motor vehicle infractions that went unwritten by police."
Gary Parker, the accountant, is, the Post says, "a police booster who later served on a private foundation co-founded by then-Commissioner [Lawrence] Mulvey that is trying to raise $25 million to build a new police academy" and allegedly expressed his gratitude to Flanagan by sending him "over-the-top" gift cards.
Flanagan's lawyer said, "Is it suspicious that individuals make friends, that police officers have friends, and that deputy commissioners have friends? No, it's not suspicious at all." The investigation was sparked by the Long Island Press story, Is Nassau County Police Department Selling Preferential Treatment?, from March 2011.
