as I was leaving a party a guy was coming in and confronted me of where I was going with his cousins, after telling him that i was going to take them home he pushed me and tackled me. as he tackled me I grabbed him and the way we landed his head hit the tip of the stairs. He started to bleed from his forehead. as we wrestled in the ground the cousins separated us. They asked me what happened and I told them I had no idea that he just attacked me for no apparent reason. They told me to just leave that they would handle the situation so I did. The guy then threatened me to kill me as I drove away. He looked pretty drunk as I remember he couldn't keep his balance when he talked me. 3 days later he decides to go to the police station and tell them that I attacked him and hit him with a bottle. I couldn't believe it! there is just no way I don't know why he would say something like that. So now I don't know what to do. I talked to an attorney and he told me that pressing charges against him wouldn't be a good idea as it would make me look guilty? I have a clean record. This sucks because I'm in the process of getting hired to be a police officer and I feel this will ruin the chances I had...
Any suggestions as to what to do? Should I just wait until the arraignment to get a court appointed attorney?
By the way his cousin that was there is a very close friend of mine and he told me that he would help me in any way, he knows that I didn't hit him with a bottle and knows me well enough ( 8 year) to know that I don't start fights.
the guy I guess had had trouble with the law before.
Submitted by mead123 on Mon, 01/09/2012 - 20:38
Arrest and conviction in employment
Your question raises several issues. First, I have no knowledge regarding how criminal arrest or conviction can impact employment as a police officer. However, other readers can follow this link for general information about criminal records and employment applications.
As for your situation, first things first. I'm not sure what you mean when you say you "talked to an attorney." Was this your brother-in-law's divorce attorney or an experienced criminal defense attorney? If I were you, given you are "in the process" of being hired for, what I assume, is a desirable job, I would find the money to hire an experienced attorney. Talk to her about what happened and let her begin the process of dealing with the charges in a way that has as little impact as possible on your criminal record. Given the facts as you describe them, and the existence of multiple witnesses who can corroborate your story, you should be able to make this problem go away. However, if you can avoid it, I would not entrust the process to a court appointed attorney who, although probably a dedicated and competent attorney, has about a hundred other cases taking up her time. Good luck.