4
Southern Ulster Times, Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Plattekill Police
Chief reinstated after
domestic violence probe
Continued from page 1
second trial scheduled for May was postponed and just
before a June date the District Attorney’s office dismissed
all charges. Ryan suspects the offer was proffered because
by that point the police had figured out what had happened
“and I don’t think anybody really wanted to testify.”
Ryan pointed out that at his trial “not one of the officers
stated who made the call [and] who determined there was
probable cause to arrest me for the charge.”
“They made a determination that I did something to at
least cause her to be so afraid [and] they decided to make
an arrest,” he said. Ryan pointed out that the police did
not question his mother-in-law who was present during
the incident or his
wife who returned
home shortly after
the episode.
Ryan
said
his
children
were
traumatized by the
entire course of
events “more by the
District Attorney’s
office than anything.”
He said he is less
concerned about his
reputation than he is
JOSEPH RYAN
about his children’s
welfare.
“I think I got caught
up in a situation
where there were too many cases of police officer domestic
violence going on and instead of protecting my rights,
I got my rights trampled on so that they could protect
themselves,” he said. “They didn’t know me from nothing
but they did know they had a broken door and a child
that was acting scared. Nobody was injured in my house,
there were no weapons displayed, there was none of that.
The police department was protecting themselves and the
District Attorney’s office was protecting themselves.”
Ryan said after looking back upon the domestic violence
cases that he has investigated, “I got a real education on
this one.” He said he does not take these kinds of cases
lightly and has responded proactively with the officers
under his command.
“I review every case file and every document that
is generated on a domestic violence call and I really
scrutinize it. I make sure my officers are following up on
it because domestic violence is a serious incident,” he said
Ryan said it is a relief to have this cloud lifted and the
reception from his department has been “excellent.”
“Some of them said they couldn’t wait for me to get
back. From what I see they’re happy and the Town Board
voted unanimously to put me back on,” he said. “I’m
back in the saddle and I am just looking to do my job and
whatever I can do to help people.”
“ T hey concluded