Three Irishmen who faced felony assault charges after a fracas last year with police in Yonkers, a suburb of New York, walked free from Westchester Supreme Court yesterday after accepting a plea bargain. In accepting the plea, the men, Thomas Cauneen (34), from Co Roscommon; Robert Butler (34) from Co Wexford; and Cornelius Walsh (33) from Co Kilkenny; pleaded guilty to a class B misdemeanour. They were each fined $100 and warned to stay out of trouble for the next year.
Mr Michael Dowd, attorney for Butler, praised the district attorney's decision, describing it as "sensitive" in the light of problems between the Irish community and the Yonkers police.
According to police, the three men attacked two officers on January 14th last year outside a restaurant on McLean Avenue, Yonkers, as police tried to break up a fight. According to attorneys for the men, the three were victims of a "police riot".
