From Lindsay Bayerstein:
http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2006/11/ny_state_police.htmlRepublican congressman John Sweeney appears to have colluded with police to suppress the records of a domestic violence call by his wife.
ALBANY -- State Police took steps to "lock up" a 911 report about a call to Congressman John Sweeney's home last year by creating an alternate version that lacked key details, an informed source said Thursday.
The full report on the domestic incident was concealed because of concern it could be used against Sweeney during his re-election campaign this fall, the source said.
Since the emergency call did not result in any arrest -- Sweeney and his wife, Gaia, called off the alert -- State Police officials created a less specific version to guard against leaks of the original, according to the source.
The fuller version was seen as a "political document," the source said. It emerged in the final days of the election, in which Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, lost to Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand. That's right, the state police realized that their standard record might be embarrassing to a powerful Congressman, so they manufactured another document that didn't look so bad.
The State Police also effectively demoted police captain who investigated the DV incident. The police department hasn't publicly accused the officer leaking the report, but his union says he's being scapegoated for the leak. So far, the only "evidence" against police capt. Frank Pace is that he told his superiors that a reporter wanted to ask him about the leak.
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