Judge is hospitalized after attack outside courthouse
A judge in New York was hospitalized and temporarily placed on a ventilator after he was attacked Saturday night outside a courthouse building that also houses the police station.
Waterloo Village Judge Roger Barto was attacked after locking up the courthouse at around 10 p.m., CNYCentral.com reports. He had just conducted an arraignment. He was in guarded condition at a Waterloo hospital, and was said to be improving.
The attackers tried to choke the judge and hit him on the head with a toilet tank lid that was outside the building during renovations. Barto was able to dial 911 after the attack, telling a police officer he believed there were two attackers. Barto doesn’t think the assault was related to the arraignment he had just conducted, Judge Dean Mattoon told CNYCentral.com.
Waterloo Police Chief Doyle Marquart told the broadcast station that the attack does not appear to be a robbery, though the motive is unknown.
Update on July 9, 2014: “DA’s office says judge faked toilet-tank cover attack; jurist now faces multi-count indictment”
