Post by WaTcHeR on May 27, 2006 11:42:03 GMT -5
05/27/2006 - JAMES CITY -- A Newport News police officer accused of pushing a woman at Busch Gardens last weekend was charged with assault and battery, authorities said.
James H. Huling, 40, a nearly three-year member of the Newport News police force, was charged after an altercation at a wolf show Sunday afternoon at the James City County amusement park.
Huling was at Busch Gardens with his family when there was a confrontation among parents after a child wanted to get in front of Huling's child, said Stan Stout, deputy chief of the James City County Police Department.
Despite allegations that Huling's wife was the first to be assaulted by the child's mother and that Huling got in between them, police charged Huling after conferring with the commonwealth's attorney.
"We felt like there was sufficient evidence," said Williamsburg-James City County Commonwealth's Attorney Mike McGinty.
Huling's lawyer, Matt Danielson, said Friday that his client tells a different account of the incident.
"I am confident when all is said and done, he's going to be exonerated," Danielson said.
Huling was served with a warrant for the Class 1 misdemeanor on Tuesday.
Although he and his wife were told how they could obtain warrants against the child's mother, it couldn't be determined Friday whether that had occurred.
However, according to an e-mail circulating among police officers and elsewhere, a magistrate refused to issue a warrant. The chief magistrate for the James City County area could neither confirm or deny that information Friday.
County police were called by Busch Gardens security to the afternoon, educational wolf presentation in the Jack Hanna's Wild Reserve section of the park. A spokeswoman for Busch Gardens declined to talk about the incident, saying only that "there was an altercation" and referring questions to police.
Stout said investigators relied on accounts from five independent witnesses - including a U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent - who saw what happened.
The witnesses told police that Huling got in between his wife and a 26-year-old Hampton woman and knocked the woman and her 1-year-old daughter, whom she was holding in her arms, to the ground, Stout said.
Stout would not identify the Hampton woman. Her daughter was treated at the scene for a bump on her head, he said. He said everyone else involved - including Huling and his wife - refused medical treatment at the scene.
But according to the circulating e-mail, Huling and his wife were injured in the incident - each punched in the face several times by the woman - and denied medical treatment by Busch Gardens.
"He was not at all happy with his treatment from Busch Gardens," Danielson said, adding that the family's season passes - including those of the Huling's two children - were taken away from them.
The Busch Gardens spokeswoman said she had no knowledge of the passes being taken.
Huling could not be reached for comment Friday. He has been assigned to administrative, non-enforcement duties within the Newport News Police Department while an internal investigation is conducted, said department spokeswoman Lou Thurston.
James H. Huling, 40, a nearly three-year member of the Newport News police force, was charged after an altercation at a wolf show Sunday afternoon at the James City County amusement park.
Huling was at Busch Gardens with his family when there was a confrontation among parents after a child wanted to get in front of Huling's child, said Stan Stout, deputy chief of the James City County Police Department.
Despite allegations that Huling's wife was the first to be assaulted by the child's mother and that Huling got in between them, police charged Huling after conferring with the commonwealth's attorney.
"We felt like there was sufficient evidence," said Williamsburg-James City County Commonwealth's Attorney Mike McGinty.
Huling's lawyer, Matt Danielson, said Friday that his client tells a different account of the incident.
"I am confident when all is said and done, he's going to be exonerated," Danielson said.
Huling was served with a warrant for the Class 1 misdemeanor on Tuesday.
Although he and his wife were told how they could obtain warrants against the child's mother, it couldn't be determined Friday whether that had occurred.
However, according to an e-mail circulating among police officers and elsewhere, a magistrate refused to issue a warrant. The chief magistrate for the James City County area could neither confirm or deny that information Friday.
County police were called by Busch Gardens security to the afternoon, educational wolf presentation in the Jack Hanna's Wild Reserve section of the park. A spokeswoman for Busch Gardens declined to talk about the incident, saying only that "there was an altercation" and referring questions to police.
Stout said investigators relied on accounts from five independent witnesses - including a U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent - who saw what happened.
The witnesses told police that Huling got in between his wife and a 26-year-old Hampton woman and knocked the woman and her 1-year-old daughter, whom she was holding in her arms, to the ground, Stout said.
Stout would not identify the Hampton woman. Her daughter was treated at the scene for a bump on her head, he said. He said everyone else involved - including Huling and his wife - refused medical treatment at the scene.
But according to the circulating e-mail, Huling and his wife were injured in the incident - each punched in the face several times by the woman - and denied medical treatment by Busch Gardens.
"He was not at all happy with his treatment from Busch Gardens," Danielson said, adding that the family's season passes - including those of the Huling's two children - were taken away from them.
The Busch Gardens spokeswoman said she had no knowledge of the passes being taken.
Huling could not be reached for comment Friday. He has been assigned to administrative, non-enforcement duties within the Newport News Police Department while an internal investigation is conducted, said department spokeswoman Lou Thurston.