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Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Ex-cop pleads guilty in man's stabbing, accused victim of stealing marijuana

Please click onto the COMMENTS for the story.

posted by Bob at Wednesday, April 08, 2009

2 Comments:

Anonymous Topic requested said...

By Emily Gurnon
egurnon@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 04/07/2009 12:31:36 PM CDT


A former St. Paul police officer admitted this morning he stabbed a man outside the Jimmy Lee Recreation Center, pleading guilty to third-degree assault.

The dispute was sparked by Norman Wesley Berry's suspicions that the man had stolen $3,200 worth of marijuana from him, according to a criminal complaint.

Berry, 52, resigned from the St. Paul Police Department in 1993 after he was suspended for assaulting a teen during the Hmong New Year celebration, but recently told someone he was an officer, the complaint said.

The victim of the stabbing, Courtney Bivens, 26, told police he was afraid of Berry because he knew he used to be a cop.

Berry admitted in Ramsey County District Court that he ran into Bivens at the recreation center in St. Paul on Dec. 3, and "confronted him about some things you thought he had done," said prosecutor Jill Gerber.

Bivens told police that Berry grew and sold marijuana, and that he had heard Berry's house was robbed the day after Thanksgiving, the complaint said.

Berry took out a knife and slashed Bivens, leaving him with a cut ligament in his left forearm that needed several surgeries to repair, he admitted.

Four days earlier, he had come looking for Bivens at the Family Dollar Store where Bivens worked, telling the manager that he was a St. Paul police officer and that Bivens had been involved in an armed robbery, the complaint said.

In January, St. Paul police spokesman Sgt. Paul Schnell said that Berry has "zero affiliation" with the police department. "Any representations he made about being a police officer are clearly wrong," Schnell said.
Berry, jailed since his arrest in Stockton, Calif., will be on conditional release until his sentencing May 29.

Charges of second-degree assault and fifth-degree marijuana possession will be dropped as a part of the plea.

6:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

No Difference between a Cop or a ex cop, they retain their personality as a ass-hole.
But!
In St.Paul we have some of the nicest police officers with the most friendly personalities.
Why are some of these St.Paul Police bringing their problems to work from their home life and take it out on a undeserving person?

6:19 PM  

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