Police Chief Saved Baby From Drowning, Then Beat Her Dad

Greg Hallgrimson pleads guilty to assaulting suspect accused of trying to kill infant
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 29, 2021 12:20 PM CDT
Police Chief Saved Baby From Drowning, Then Beat Her Dad
Greg Hallgrimson, the former police chief of Greenwood, Mo., is shown at an awards ceremony in 2015.   (Greenwood, Mo., Police Department via Facebook)

A former suburban Kansas City police chief was credited with saving the life of a 6-month-old girl after her father walked into his police station in December 2018, allegedly announcing that he'd just drowned the infant in an icy pond. Greg Hallgrimson and another Greenwood, Mo., police officer raced to the scene, finding the unconscious infant floating face up. She was thought to have been in the water for 10 minutes. The officers pulled her out, removed her wet clothes, wrapped her in the chief's shirt, and performed CPR until paramedics arrived. The girl survived in what some called a "miracle." Hallgrimson was called a hero. He may now be facing prison time for his next move. The former chief—placed on administrative leave before resigning in May 2019—pleaded guilty Wednesday to assaulting the girl's handcuffed father at the station, reports the AP.

A former attorney for Jonathan Zicarelli, who remains in custody on felony charges of domestic assault and child abuse, claimed a body camera captured Hallgrimson grabbing the suspect by the throat, throwing him to the floor, punching him in the face, and telling him, "You deserve to die," per the Kansas City Star. Hallgrimson was indicted in 2019 on a single count of violating Zicarelli's civil rights. The suspect has the right "to be free from unreasonable seizure, which includes the right to be free from the unreasonable use of force by a person acting in his official capacity as a law enforcement officer," the US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri said at the time. With the guilty plea, defense attorney Robin Fowler said 51-year-old Hallgrimson hoped to "move forward with his life." No details on the plea agreement were provided. (More guilty plea stories.)

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