Ex-Ambridge cop, supervisor, plead guilty to roles in beating

[MrScorpio]

By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A retired Ambridge police sergeant accused of beating a prisoner pleaded guilty this morning to depriving him of his civil rights after the man was arrested for urinating in front of the officer's granddaughter.

Richard Heitzenrater, 61, will be sentenced on the misdemeanor count by U.S. District Judge Terrence F. McVerry on Nov. 12. He faces a maximum of 12 months in prison.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Soo Song, Ambridge police were called on Feb. 20, 2009, for the report of a drunken man having urinated in front of two children.

David Baker was arrested for public drunkenness and other related counts. Mr. Heitzenrater, then a sergeant with the Ambridge police, arrived at the station house where Mr. Baker was being held and entered his locked detention cell at least three times, Ms. Song said.

The lights were turned off as he entered, which obscured the surveillance video, she continued.

"While in the cell, the defendant continued yelling obscenities at David Baker and repeatedly struck him in various parts of his body," Ms. Song said.

During one trip to the cell, in which other officers intervened to pull Mr. Heitzenrater out, he was seen kneeing Mr. Baker in the chest two or three times, she said.



http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10193/1072277-100.stm