A Nassau County police officer was aqcuitted of harassing her colleagues who arrested her while she was off-duty after a parking dispute with on-duty officers who accused her of resisting arrest.
A Nassau County jury found Dolores Sharpe, 53, not guilty Wednesday of harassment and resisting arrest charges following a two-week-long trial.
“I am free of this dark cloud that these men placed over me and my good name,” Officer Sharpe said. “I did nothing wrong and today the jury made that fact clear.”
Officers Charles Volpe and Victor Gladitz, who are white, had arrested Sharpe, who is black, for allegedly trying to strike one of the officers “in his face with a neck chain by swinging it at him” and later “refused to comply with multiple lawful orders to place her hands behind her back,” the officers alleged in court documents.
The altercation occurred Nov. 29, 2013 the parking lot of a store in Hempstead, where Sharpe was shopping at the time, authorities have said. One of the officers accused Sharpe of blocking his view during an investigation. Heated words were reportedly exchanged by both sides, but Sharpe’s lawyer said the arresting officers crossed a line.
“Not only was this incident one which subjected Officer Sharpe to an extreme level of humiliation, but the clear attempt by these two officers was to personally degrade her and deprive her of any sense of dignity,” said Sharpe’s Hempstead-based attorney, Frederick Brewington. “The County of Nassau and its Police Department have been asked to investigate the actions of the two officers and consider charges of perjury against at least one of them.”
In addition to the arrest, Sharpe later served a 30-day unpaid suspension. A police spokesman has said that an internal affiars investigation into the case is continuing.
Prosecutors said they respected the outcome.
“An arrest was made, allegations were reviewed, the evidence was presented and a jury carefully considered the case, as evidenced by their four-day deliberation,” said Paul Leonard, a spokesman for Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas. “Judge Kluewer presided over a fair trial. We respect the jury process and their verdict.”