From: SF Gate

Off-duty Fremont cop charged in alleged attack

Demian Bulwa
Friday, July 4, 2008

An off-duty Fremont police officer has been charged with seven misdemeanors in connection with an alleged drunken attack on an off-duty Richmond firefighter last month after a country music concert in San Francisco, prosecutors said Thursday.

Nicholas Maurer, 26, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday on three counts of assault with the possibility of inflicting great bodily injury, three counts of battery against a transit passenger and one count of public intoxication, said Erica Derryck, a spokeswoman for San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris.

BART officials said Maurer attacked 41-year-old Nicholas Jackalone on June 8 after the firefighter's wife pointed out that Maurer was leaning against the door of a Muni train taking fans away from a Kenny Chesney concert at AT&T Park. The attack allegedly continued inside the Embarcadero BART Station.

Maurer's attorney, Terry Bowman, called the altercation "a perfect storm that involved a misunderstanding plus alcohol plus testosterone." She said her client took action after a fellow Fremont police officer was "sucker-punched" by an unknown person on the Muni train.

Maurer was released at the scene of the alleged assault and remains out of custody. He is no longer with the Fremont Police Department, said spokesman Detective Bill Veteran, who did not elaborate.