A former Yonkers police officer was sentenced at the Westchester County courthouse in White Plains today for his role in a deadly drug raid.
Christian Koch will be spending eight weekends behind bars after he admitted to lying to get a search warrant for that raid.
Koch and former police officer Neil Vera were in the raid on School Street in Yonkers in March 2014. During the raid, an informant fell out of an apartment window to his death.
Vera was sentenced to six months of weekends in jail.
Koch's attorney says his client prepared the search warrant based on information he was given by Vera and that Koch is less responsible.
The head of the Yonkers PBA admonished the district attorney for insisting on any jail time. "Mistakes are made when you're out there. To ignore the fact that for 14 years he made no mistakes and that he put very, very dangerous people behind bars and risked his life doing it, I think that's a shame," says Yonkers PBA President Keith Olson.
Despite Koch's history of service, the judge says Koch had lost his way. The judge added that he did not take any pleasure in sending him to prison since Koch has already lost a lot.