Convicted of trespassing and assault, a New York Police Department officer resigned Thursday after breaking into a black woman’s home while shouting racial slurs at her and her children. According to the former officer, he was too drunk to remember trespassing into the woman’s home and threatening her.
In July 2018, NYPD Officer Michael Reynolds and several friends traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, for fellow NYPD Officer Thomas Geberth’s bachelor party. During the vacation, Reynolds became blackout drunk and kicked in the front door of a house next to the Airbnb that he was renting.
Sleeping in her bed, Conese Halliburton woke up hearing voices outside her house. She dialed 911 shortly before Reynolds broke into her home.
“He kept coming down the hall. Nothing was holding him back,” Halliburton recalled. “He was like, ‘This is my motherfucking house.’”
In surveillance footage with audio shared by Halliburton’s neighbor, a man can be heard saying, “Try to shoot me, and I’ll break every fucking bone in your fucking neck.’”
Halliburton was in the house with four of her sons, two who were 8 and 11 years old at the time. Reynolds called them a racial slur and eventually left after Halliburton told him that the police were on their way.
In September, Reynolds pleaded no contest to one count of aggravated criminal trespassing and three counts of assault with fear of bodily injury for his role in the attack. On December 6, he was sentenced to 15 days in jail along with three years of probation.
“I’m not sure what might have happened had she not been on the phone with police,” stated Tennessee criminal court judge Mark Fishburn at Reynolds’ sentencing last month. “The main thing is this not be swept under the rug. The kind of conduct that occurred that night just cannot be tolerated under any circumstances.”
On December 30, Reynolds was informed that he was to report to police headquarters for the commencement of an official disciplinary process on January 2, according to Acting Deputy Commissioner for Public Information Devora Kaye. Instead of facing the disciplinary process, Reynolds resigned from the department on Thursday.
“He will receive no pension or health benefits, nor will he be allowed to carry a firearm,” Kaye said in a statement to CBS News. “His actions are wholly inconsistent with the values and standards the New York City Police Department expects and demands of its officers.”
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