Darby mayor pleads guilty to punching councilman
‘I want to take full responsibility for my actions,’ he tells judge
Darby Mayor Darren R. Burrell was given two years of probation Thursday after pleading guilty to one count of simple assault for striking Councilman Omar Thompson following a borough meeting last year.
“I want to take full responsibility for my actions,” Burrell told Common Pleas Court Judge G. Michael Green. “It was a haste moment that I feel as though I shouldn’t have done. It harmed me, it harmed my family, it harmed my community. It is something that I will never even consider thinking about doing ever again.”
Burrell, 42, had also been charged with reckless endangerment and two counts of harassment for the altercation on Nov. 2, 2022, which were dismissed under the negotiated plea worked out by Deputy District Attorney Doug Rhoads and defense counsel
Donald Chisholm.
The night in question
According to prior reports, emergency medical personnel were called to borough hall at 8:24 p.m. for a report of two injuries: One person with facial abrasions and the other with a shoulder injury.
Delaware County detectives said tempers flared during a closeddoor meeting over traffic and vehicle controls earlier in the night. Burrell later crossed the space between the men’s seats in the meeting room and punched Thompson, knocking him to the floor.
“After the meeting was over, he threatened me twice,” Thompson said at the time. “I was going to try to go out the front door and he said no we need to talk. … We were having a conversation and he got up and started charging towards me and hitting me in the face and my neck and my head, and I defended myself.”
Burrell previously claimed that it was Thompson who attacked him.
Thompson said it was not the first incident between the two. At a previous meeting, he said, the two squared off but county police officials told him they couldn’t do anything because there was no physical contact.
Burrell turned himself over to Darby police on Nov. 16, 2022, after Thompson pressed charges. He was released on unsecured bail of $35,000, waived a preliminary hearing earlier this year and was scheduled for trial this week.
‘No contact’
Burrell, a Democrat, was elected mayor in 2021 after serving as a 1st Ward councilman and as a director on the William Penn School Board. He has one prior 2005 conviction in Delaware County for driving under the influence, according to online court records.
It was unclear what Burrell’s political future in the borough may hold.
As part of the sentence, Burrell must provide a DNA sample to state police, complete anger management classes and perform 40 hours of community service. He was also ordered to have “no inappropriate contact” with Thompson.
Rhoads and Chisholm explained that they wanted to fashion the “no contact” provision of the plea to be enforceable by the court while taking into account the borough’s small size and potential that the two men would see each other out and about.
“They’re adults. They’re grown people. All they have to do is just act accordingly,” said Chisholm. “They don’t even have to speak, but they can’t have any negative contact.”
Rhoads added that Thompson still does not want Burrell to seek him out or contact him.
Judge Green said he believed Burrell had expressed true remorse for his actions and accepted the guilty plea. He said he would also likely look favorably on a future petition for early termination of probation, as suggested by Chisholm.
Rhoads said the commonwealth would not be in agreement with such a petition at this time, and would have to speak with the victim before making any future recommendations on the subject. The judge agreed that he would want to hear from Thompson at that time as well.