If State Senator Kevin Parker (D-Flatbush, Midwood) is wondering what will happen once the criminal charges against him are adjudicated, all he has to do is look at fellow Senator Hiram Monserrate.
State Senator and Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson (D-Canarsie) told this paper that it was a very real possibility that Parker could face a special expulsion committee much like Monserrate did after he was acquitted of felony assault charges for beating his girlfriend late last year.
Monserrate was found guilty of a misdemeanor crime, although it was not serious enough to warrant an automatic expulsion, which is reserved only for felony convictions.
Yet the State Senate empaneled a committee to weigh Monserrate’s fate as a legislator. The committee, which included Dyker Heights State Senator Diane Savino, recommended that he be drummed out of the hall.
According to published reports, Sampson is expected to allow the vote for Monserrate’s expulsion. The vote could take place in the next two weeks.
Parker could face a similar fate, even though he has yet to be found guilty of anything.
“This is a new mandate,” Sampson said about these expulsion committee. “This could be a new benchmark we will establish when incidents like these occur. The question is we have to figure out if we establish it for every indiscretion.”
Calls to Parker for comment were not returned as this paper went to press.
Parker could act as a litmus test in this regard, especially if he’s acquitted of the felony assault charges he is currently facing for jumping a New York Post photographer last May.
Parker was indicted on a charge of assault in the second degree for his confrontation with William Lopez, a shutterbug assigned to take a photo of Parker outside his Avenue H home, which was facing foreclosure.
The seven-year legislator reportedly chased Lopez in a fit of rage, pursuing him around the corner to the photographer’s car.
In the ensuing struggle, Parker broke the lensman’s flash. He also kicked out the interior door panel to Lopez’s 1998 Subaru Forester, according to a complaint filed with the Kings County District Attorney’s office.
Lopez reportedly suffered a swollen middle finger during the clash.
In the intervening months, Parker’s attorneys have tried to broker a deal with prosecutors, but nothing substantial has been hammered out.
“Right now we’re nowhere near a deal,” a source told this paper.
This is not the first time the legislator has been in trouble with the law. In 2005, he was arrested for allegedly punching a traffic enforcement agent giving him a ticket. The charges were ultimately dropped when Parker agreed to undergo anger management counseling. He was also accused of – but never charged with — roughing up a female aide last year, according to published reports.
Parker is expected to return to court on January 28.