McGurk: 'I Never Once Struck' Trooper Who Stopped to Help

A man held on $150,000 cash bail for allegedly beating a state trooper who stopped to help him in Salem is claiming that he is not guilty of the alleged crime, which was followed by a two-day manhunt into Massachusetts, according to the Eagle-Tribune.

Sean McGurk, 42, of 61 Washington St., Apt. A, in Concord, was charged with a variety of offenses, including simple assault, resisting arrest, driving while being deemed an habitual offender, theft of a motor vehicle, and fugitive from justice, after allegedly beating probationary Trooper James Powers when Powers pulled over on Interstate 93 south to help McGurk with his disabled vehicle near the Mall at Rockingham Park around 7:42 p.m. on Dec. 21.

Powers used a Taser and pepper spray during an attempt to arrest McGurk after the alleged assault, although McGurk broke free, fled into the nearby woods, and stole a Salem resident's car before ditching it in Massachusetts, state police have said.

McGurk was apprehended on Dec. 23.

McGurk admitted to a Derry District Court judge on Tuesday that he's in "a lot of trouble," although the Eagle-Tribune has reported that the man — whom state police have said has a long criminal history — denied that there was ever an assault.

"Not guilty, your honor," McGurk reportedly said in court in front of roughly a dozen state troopers. "I never once struck that officer."



[Read the full Eagle-Tribune story here.]