Colonie

An Albany police officer who allegedly choked and punched a 12-year-old boy on Halloween night has not been arrested although the boy and his friends, who admitted throwing pears at the officer's house, were charged with violations that will be resolved in youth and family courts.

Michael Geraci Jr., an Albany police officer who has a troubled history on the force, was initially placed on paid administrative duties after the incident. He has since been suspended without pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation, officials said. But it's unclear whether Geraci will face criminal charges. A Colonie police spokesman this week said their agency is still investigating the incident.

Patrick F. Batchelder Jr., the father of the boy who was allegedly roughed up by Geraci, said his son and three other children, including a girl, were not far from Geraci's house after the pear-throwing incident when the off-duty officer drove up in his personal car at a high rate of speed. He said Geraci jumped out and grabbed the 80-pound boy by the neck, throwing him to the ground and punching him once in the chest. Batchelder provided photos to the Times Union that he said showed bruising on his son's neck.

The photos were taken at a local hospital at which the boy was checked for injuries on the night of the incident.

"My son, because he knows that he's a police officer ... thought that he was going to put him in the back of his car," Batchelder said. "He was scared."

The boy's grandfather, Patrick Batchelder Sr., who arrived at the scene of the incident and found Colonie police officers already there, said he tried to call State Police because he was concerned the Colonie officers were too friendly with Geraci. He said the town police officers shook hands with Geraci and let him drive away and come back to the scene. He said the town police officers did not warn Geraci when he screamed profanities and moved toward the grandfather.

"I said something bad is going to happen and you guys aren't doing anything. They said we're just taking information," the grandfather said. "I said I'm calling the State Police, and that's when everything changed."

The grandfather said a State Police dispatcher told him they would not send a trooper to the scene because Colonie police were already there.

"All of the sudden he (Geraci) is back and he's approaching me and he's in my face," the grandfather said. "The only words I said to him was 'get out of my face' and he kept saying 'you're a (expletive) scumbag." The grandfather said he had never met Geraci before that night.

In a video posted on a social media site attributed to Geraci's son, who was at the scene when Batchelder's son was put in an ambulance, the officer's son can be heard saying the other boy is "little baby bitch, that's what I call him," as he videotaped the scene.

Lt. Robert Winn, a Colonie police spokesman, said detectives are waiting to interview one more child who was involved. He said no decision has been made on whether to file charges against Geraci. The off-duty officer told Colonie police he only held the boy by his sweatshirt until they arrived.

Batchelder, the father, said his son is scheduled to be in Family Court on Friday to answer a charge of criminal contempt. He said his son admitted that he threw one pear at the roof of Geraci's house and ran away. Last week, the father said, he and the boy's grandfather were interviewed by internal affairs detectives from the Albany Police Department.

Batchelder said his son and Geraci's son, both of whom attend Sand Creek Middle School, have had problems dating back two years but that the school declined to put them in separate classrooms.

Following one incident, when the boys had a confrontation in a school lunchroom, Batchelder said, he alleges that Geraci came to the school in his police uniform and yelled at Batchelder's son in an office before a teacher stepped in and told him to back off.

"He's an honor roll student. He's a good kid; now we're having to change schools," Batchelder said. He said there was another incident he reported to the school in which Geraci's son rode by his son and other children on a bicycle, displaying what appeared to be a knife.

Batchelder said his son told him that on Halloween night he wasn't trying to get away when Geraci drove up and confronted the four kids who had just thrown pears at his house. The others are having their cases resolved in a noncriminal Youth Court, according to a person briefed on the case.

Batchelder, 33, added that the bad feelings between the boys date back to about 2010, when, he said, Geraci allegedly pulled down the pants of Batchelder's son as the boy played basketball with other children at Geraci's house.

In 2006, Geraci, 38, was cleared by a grand jury that reviewed charges on whether he assaulted a 73-year-old man by dragging him out of a police van by the ankles. The man, John Albert Behrmann, a retired dentist who lived in the South End, suffered cuts and bruises in an incident that was captured by a police security camera. Geraci returned to patrol duties after being cleared. In 2007, the city paid Behrmann $25,000 to settle a federal lawsuit, according to an attorney in the case.

In 2013, Geraci was again removed from patrol duties as the department investigated allegations that, while assigned to a DWI traffic enforcement unit, he followed drivers after staking out city bars and was allegedly abusive to people he arrested. A law enforcement source said that some of the cases were scuttled as a result of the internal investigation.

The DWI-stop investigation of Geraci was triggered by a complaint filed by Michael Alvaro, a former Albany deputy public works commissioner, who was arrested by Geraci on charges of DWI and refusing to take an alcohol screening test. He was also ticketed for unsafe turn and failure to stop at a stop sign.

Alvaro, whose charges were later thrown out by a City Court judge and an administrative judge with the state Department of Motor Vehicles, has filed a notice of claim against the city alleging false arrest and malicious prosecution.

Cheryl Coleman, an attorney for Geraci, said there is "an alternative explanation for the claimed injury to the neck" that police are investigating. As for her client's status, she added: "The longer that goes by without an arrest then the better we feel about that."

blyons@timesunion.com • 518-454-5547 • @brendan_lyonstu