Officer Derrick Cook's suspension follows guilty pleas in district court.
Patrolman Derek V. Cook is seen in Springfield District Court last week.SPRINGFIELD – Police Officer Derek V. Cook has been suspended without pay for three months in the wake of pleading guilty to assaulting two police supervisors in a station house fight in early 2008.
Sgt. John M. Delaney, aide to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet, said Cook agreed to the suspension, which started Monday, so there was no need to hold any kind of disciplinary hearing.
Delaney said it will be up to Fitchet to decide what Cook’s assignment will be when he returns to duty.
Charles W. Groce, Cook’s lawyer, confirmed Cook had agreed to the suspension.
The suspension was separate from the court case against Cook.
Under a plea agreement, Cook on Thursday was fined a total of $675 on two misdemeanor counts of assault and battery on a police officer and spared prosecution on a more serious felony wiretapping charge for which a conviction could have carried a prison term.
Cook pleaded guilty before Judge Robert A. Gordon, admitting he assaulted Lt. Robert Moynihan and Sgt. Dennis M. O’Connor, who is now retired.
Both Moynihan, who appeared in uniform, and O’Connor were present for the plea hearing, and presented victim impact statements to the judge.
Cook apologized to the two, stating, “I want to say sorry to them both as a police officer and as a man.”
The fight occurred in February 2008, but the case dragged on unresolved during the administration of former District Attorney William M. Bennett. When Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni discovered earlier this year that the case remained active, the new district attorney vowed to get it back on track.