RIVERSIDE – The Suffolk County jury considering criminal charges against a pair of Ocean Beach Village police department officers for the alleged beating of a New Jersey man on Fire Island in August 2005 reached a partial verdict Friday in Riverhead.

The jury, deliberating since March 31, found acting police chief George Hesse, 39, of East Islip not guilty of assault in the second degree, not guilty of first degree and second degree gang assault, not guilty of second degree reckless endangerment, not guilty of offering a false instrument for filing first degree and offering a false instrument second degree, and not guilty of falsifying business records in the first and second degree.

His codefendant, Arnold Hardman, was found not guilty of falsifying business records in the first degree and second degree, not guilty of offering a false instrument for filing first degree and second degree, not guilty of reckless endangerment in the second degree, and not guilty of issuing a false certificate.

The jury has yet to reach a verdict on the charge of third degree assault as charged to Hesse, and official misconduct charges against both Hesse and Hardman.  Judge William Condon directed the jury to resume deliberations Monday, April 13 on those charges.

The trial began March 6.  The indictment charged Hesse severely beat tourist Samuel Gilberd as in the Ocean Beach police station around 3:30 a.m. on the August 28, 2005 following his arrest for throwing a beer glass into the street.