New Jersey Cop Charged Over Arrest Involving K-9 Attack
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey police officer has been arrested for his role in a 2013 arrest that left a man with hundreds of stiches after being attacked by the officer's K-9.
Sterling Wheaten, an officer with the Atlantic City Police Department, has been arrested on charges of depriving the man of his rights, and falsifying records. He pleaded not guilty Thursday and was released on bond.
Wheaten's attorney tells the news website BreakingAC.com that Wheaten has "done nothing but serve his community."
Twenty-five-year-old David Castellani was arrested outside the Tropicana casino and charged with aggravated assault on a police officer and resisting arrest. He eventually had his record cleared in a pretrial intervention program.
Castellani says he required hundreds of stitches to repair bites to his head. He settled an excessive-force lawsuit against Atlantic City for $3 million last year.
(Copyright 2018 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)