Real World

This is sad. So, get drunk, while armed, which is against the law mind you, shoot someone, walk away from the scene without care for the injured individual, and go sleep at a buds house, and guess what? You get 3 years....probation!

Hmm...any chance Joe Taxpayer would get the same deal?


Policeman admits to shooting officer

He gets 3 years' probation and agrees to resign

Prosecutors say Paul Durkin shot a fellow police officer with his service weapon. (GEORGE RIZER/GLOBE STAFF)

By Suzanne Smalley, Globe Staff | April 24, 2007

A 27-year veteran of the Boston Police Department pleaded guilty yesterday to assault charges for shooting a fellow officer with his service weapon after a night of heavy drinking.

Officer Paul Durkin has also agreed to resign from the department, which bars convicted felons from its ranks, spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said.

Durkin, who pleaded guilty to one count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, was sentenced to three years of probation and a mandatory evaluation for alcohol abuse.

Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis declined to be interviewed, but said in a statement: "Violence is unacceptable in our society, and anyone who engages in violent behavior must be held accountable. Our department is committed to policing our own, which is essential to maintaining public trust and the professional integrity of the Boston Police Department."

A message left at Durkin's Easton home was not returned yesterday. George E. Murphy, Durkin's lawyer , declined to comment.

Durkin, 50, was set to face trial this week in connection with the shooting, which prosecutors say unfolded June 22 after Officer Joseph Behnke offered his friend a place to sleep because he believed Durkin was too drunk to drive home.

Prosecutors allege that Durkin became annoyed when Behnke pressured him to stay at his West Roxbury home instead of driving to Easton.

They say that as the two argued, Durkin unholstered his service weapon and fired once at close range, striking Behnke in the left hip.

Durkin then walked away, leaving his friend bleeding, and arranged to stay at the home of another friend, who knew nothing about the shooting, prosecutors say. Behnke's wife called an ambulance, which took him to Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he was treated and released.

Behnke remains on paid administrative leave, Driscoll said.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley declined to be interviewed about the case, but has said it was "pure luck" that no one was killed.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/art...oting_officer/

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

Holy Diver

.....horrible!

Pujo

The police union must literally have been torn on this one.

Real World

It's a complete joke. If my buddies who carry ever got drunk, shot each other, left the person shot for dead, and wentto sleep at someone elses house, do you think he'd get 3 years probation?

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

Pujo

Cops are different. I'm sure FTW will be coming around to tell us why.

Real World

A badge and a union. How can you go wrong?

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

wistahpatsfan

Add a gun and a drunken azzwhole who thinks he can get away with anything because he has been his whole career - and you get this.

sdaniels7114

This is merely a guess; but I figure the prosecutor's case probably wasn't all that strong. Why take a chance and spend the money on a trial when the best you can go into court with is a low percentage at a proper sentence if you can get the guy for something both on the cheap(no trial) and guaranteed? At least now the guy can never be a first offender again and is no longer a cop. The alternative is the possibility he gets off altogether and doesn't even lose his badge.

Harry Boy

Uncle Teddy did the same thing (went to sleep) he didn't use a gun though he used a car, he didn't just wound his victim, he killed her, the same system that got Kennedy off the hook will now get the cop off the hook.

The reaction to the Kennedy Murder from the New Democrats was "Oh, Poor Teddy"

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Harry Boy (Genius)

In The Absence Of Law And Order Society Will Surely Destroy Itself

Real World

Well, considering he shot osmeone with his Glock, I can't imagine what kind of case he couldn't have. This was clearly a situation, to me anyway, of a police officer getting a special deal. Apply the name Joe Taxpayer in place of officer so&so and tell me the same would apply. It wouldn't.

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897