By Chris Glorioso
An Iraq War veteran from New York City who landed in
the hospital after an assault during a backyard party is calling for his
alleged assailant to be fired from his police officer job at Amtrak.
The officer, William Gonzalez, was arrested July 5 and
charged with aggravated assault after he allegedly knocked out Guillermo
Balseca during a housewarming party on the deck of Gonzalez's Linden Avenue
home in Woodbridge, New Jersey, police say.
Balseca, from the Woodhaven section of Queens,
suffered bleeding and contusions around his brain after the fight with
Gonzalez. Balseca says he and others attending the housewarming party had been
drinking alcohol, but says there is no excuse for the level of violence that
resulted in his brain injuries, now manifesting in constant short-term memory
loss and reduced mobility of his left foot.
"I'm very angry," he said.
Balseca's fiance, Charlene Charriez, who was also at
the party, said Gonzalez continued to attack Balseca after he was already
unconscious.
"He could not breathe. He was making no signs of
life," she said.
Balseca's sister Lucille Nowakowski said: "He
served his country. He was in combat. He was able to survive that. And he comes
here to his home where he is supposed to be safe, and this happens to him? It's
unfair."
In an email, Amtrak spokesman Craig Shulz said
Gonzalez has been put on paid desk duty and "has had his police powers
suspended pending an internal review of the circumstances."
But Balseca and his family want the agency to go
further.
"He needs to be permanently terminated. He needs
to spend some time in prison," said Nowakowski.
Darren Gelber, a defense attorney for Gonzalez,
suggested his client was justified in defending himself in the backyard fight.
He his client has filed his own counter-complaint against Balseca with
Woodbridge Police.
"Mr. Gonzalez believes he acted completely
lawfully and he'll be exonerated," Gelber said.
The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office is evaluating
the charges against Gonzalez.
