Charges were dismissed today against a SUNY Plattsburgh police officer who was accused of selling alcohol to a minor on campus.
SUNY Plattsburgh police officer Darren Barcomb met briefly with his attorney Allan Cruikshank Jr. before appearing in Plattsburgh City Court Wednesday morning. An offer from the prosecution was declined and Cruickshank moved to dismiss the case.
According to court documents, Barcomb was arrested June 27th stemming from an incident in early May.
On Wednesday, City Court Judge Timothy Blatchley told the Assistant District Attorney that dismissal was required because Barcomb had fulfilled two requirements of the statute under which the charges were filed: he had never been convicted of this type of offense and had completed a drug and alcohol awareness course.
Audio recording was not permitted during the brief proceeding. Barcomb declined to comment to WAMC, but attorney Cruickshank explained:
“The statute is designed for any kind of adult who might sell alcohol to a minor. So it could be a store owner, could be a restauranteur, could be a parent, somebody who hosts a party, anyone. And so the statute also provides that if you’ve never been accused and convicted of doing that before within the last five years and you take an alcohol awareness course it has to be dismissed. So that’s a dismissal in favor of Mr. Barcomb. The case was never proved against Mr. Barcomb and he is found innocent of the charge.”
Cruickshank says the prosecution lacked evidence in the case.
“He was accused of having sold alcohol to minors on the campus. It wasn’t a proven allegation. It was hardly supported by anything that the prosecution had in terms of any evidence. The people never provided the information about the alleged accuser, who recanted his story, so there’s some issues in terms of the people’s evidence. Also it seemed to be an effort to create an account where there wasn’t one."
Bradley asks, "Was it the campus police or the city police that arrested him on this?"
"I think the campus police wanted to press the issue," Cruickshank replies, "but the city police were asked as a favor to do it for them.”
Acting Plattsburgh City Police Chief Bud York tells WAMC that the campus police received the complaint but could not investigate due to conflict of interest concerns and turned the case over to the Plattsburgh Police Department. He declined to speak on tape.
The dismissal closes the case.
Reached by WAMC after the proceedings, the Clinton County District Attorney’s office was unable to comment.
Earlier this year Barcomb received the SUNY Police Chiefs Association’s Professional Service Award.
Court files show he sued SUNY Plattsburgh in 2009 and 2011.
According to SeeThroughNY, Barcomb earned $85,852 as a SUNY police officer in 2020.
