Deputy charged with battery due in court

An Orange County deputy whose girlfriend had bruising on her face and arms when she accused him of domestic battery in May was not arrested at the time because there was not probable cause, a sheriff ’s spokeswoman said.

Cpl. David Burdick now faces a misdemeanor battery charge after a prosecutor from the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office filed the charge. His next court hearing is scheduled for today.

His girlfriend told deputies he punched her the night of May 28 because he was angry that she had a drink and did not start cooking right away, court records show.

Deputies from the sector where Burdick and his girlfriend lived, the same sector he patrolled for work, spent six hours in their home that night, his girlfriend later wrote.

“He threatened me by saying he knew how to get rid of a body so one one would ever find it,” his girlfriend wrote in a request for an injunction. “… I am so afraid of him because he is a police officer and has many people to turn to. He always says he knows the law better than most lawyers. I need him to stay away from me.”

Burdick was not arrested that night, records show. The case went to the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office, where prosecutors decided to file a misdemeanor battery charge July 13, court records show.

“At that time, there wasn’t enough probable cause for an arrest,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Jane Watrel said. “The criminal investigation that followed led to the domestic violence charges.”

But one of the deputies who came to the apartment that night noted Burdick’s girlfriend had bruises and swelling on her right eye and on her forearms and wrists, records show. Burdick was not home when they arrived — he left the apartment with his son after the fight, deputies later wrote.

Watrel said she didn’t know what additional information deputies needed to establish probably cause.

“I do not have those specifics. However, when discovery occurs, you will be able to review the investigation in its entirety,” she said.

Law enforcement officers who respond to domestic disputes have to view it through a broader lens, said Carol Wick, the former chief executive of Harbor House, the domestic violence shelter and current principal at Convergent Nonprofit Solutions. “This isn’t about her and the perpetrator at this point, this is about did he violate the law,” she said of Burdick’s case.

An arrest can give partners who have experienced domestic violence time to find new living arrangements, Wick said. It can also prevent witness tampering.

“Victims really have to trust that law enforcement officers are going to protect them,” she said. “Most organizations we see, they do the right thing.”

Wick mentioned the case of another Orange County deputy, Jamahl Morse, who was arrested in Kissimmee on a domestic battery charge in early August. He’s on administrative duty after turning himself in Aug. 5. “The Kissimmee Police Department handled it perfectly, textbook,” she said.

Burdick has been with the OCSO since 1990.

He was assigned to administrative duty in late May, meaning he’s working a desk job instead of patrolling or taking cases, Watrel said.