Cop Pleads Guilty To Lying That Suspect Tried To Run Him Over: DA

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — A cop who lied about a suspect trying to run him over with his car could spend up to a year in jail, prosecutors announced.

Officer Michael Bergman, who worked with the Grand Larceny Division, pled guilty on Thursday to perjury and false statement charges for the February incident, where he claimed a burglary suspect tried to ram into him and his partner with a car in Sunset Park.

Prosecutors would later find out by watching surveillance video of the arrest that the suspect and his car were nowhere near hitting the two officers, according to the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. They charged Bergman with first-degree perjury, second-degree perjury, making a false statement and official misconduct.

“This officer’s false claims led to an individual being charged with a crime he did not commit," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. "The criminal justice system must be able to rely on the integrity and credibility of our police officers to keep our communities safe and to ensure equal justice. This defendant has now been held accountable for his inexplicable actions.”

The prosecutors asked that Bergman be sentenced to one year in jail. The judge in his case indicated that he may sentence him to six months in jail with five years probation, the DA's office said.

The DA's office and NYPD internal affairs have also said they are looking into Bergman's past cases because of the incident, which happened on Feb. 1, when he and his partner were on patrol in the 72nd precinct, prosecutors said.

Bergman, who has been on the force for six years, recognized a man who was wanted on burglary charges parallel parking on 65th Street between Second and Third avenues, and drove up in an unmarked car hoping to arrest the man for driving without a valid license, prosecutors said.

The 34-year-old officer later said that when he and his partner got out of their car, the suspect backed up his car and almost hit the partner who was standing behind the car. The suspect, Bergman claimed, then drove the car forward and forced him to dive out of the way as the suspect drove off.

Bergman said he had scrapes on his elbow from diving to the ground.

His testimony was used against the suspect, who was later charged with attempted assault, reckless endangerment and two unrelated burglary charges.

Prosecutors watched the surveillance video at the end of May, though, and saw that the unmarked police car pulled alongside the suspect's car after he had already finished parallel parking against the curb. The suspect did drive off when the officers got out of their car, prosecutors said, but it didn't come close to striking the officers. Bergman was never in front of the suspect's car and did not have to move out of the way or dive to the ground as he had claimed, they said.