NYPD cop takes a plea deal after breaking into a Nashville house next to his Airbnb

Adam Tamburin | The Tennessean

A New York police officer on Thursday admitted to breaking into a Nashville home next door to his Airbnb and then attacking the family inside.

Michael J. Reynolds, 25, was charged with assault and aggravated burglary after the July 2018 break-in. He returned to Nashville Thursday to plead no contest to one count of aggravated criminal trespassing and three counts of assault.

Prosecutors are expected to argue that Reynolds should go to prison for his crimes during a sentencing hearing in November.

Conese Halliburton watched Reynolds accept his guilt in court Thursday. When she walked into the hallway afterward, she was overcome by emotion.

UPDATE: NYPD cop who broke into a Nashville home and terrorized family resigns under pressure

She remembers Reynolds kicking in the front door of her 12 South-area home and charging in in the middle of the night. Video surveillance around the house showed Reynolds screaming and threatening the family and using racial slurs.

In surveillance footage with audio shared by Halliburton's neighbor, the man can be heard saying "Try to shoot me, and I'll break every f---ing bone in your f---ing neck," before calling them "f---ing n------."

Memories of that night and the man's anger have fueled nightmares for Halliburton and her two youngest sons, who were 8 and 11 at the time.

"At night time, lights are on in my house," she said. "They don't feel safe anymore."

Halliburton is represented by Nashville attorney Daniel Horwitz, who came with her to court. Horwitz said Reynolds should be fired from the New York Police Department.

"I think he's a racist. I think he is not fit to carry a badge or a gun," Horwitz said. "There's no possible excuse for it. He is tasked with upholding the law rather than violating it."

Horwitz said the family had not pursued any civil lawsuits related to the case, but he did not rule that possibility out.

Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and atamburin@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tamburintweets.