Probation, Community Service, Mental Exam Ordered for Ex-Deputy

Christopher Roth was also given a 30-day jail term, but Judge Ronald Stephens suspended it.

Stephens said Roth could be put on unsupervised probation after he paid court costs and completed the examination.

Roth was the first of three former deputies to be tried on a simple assault charge stemming from an altercation last August outside an Applebee's on U.S. Highway 70 in Garner.

Robert Wise said three undercover officers cursed and beat him in front of his wife and daughter because they were upset that he had taken up two parking spaces outside the restaurant.

The incident happened "because someone questioned your authority," Stephens told Roth.

"Neither of you acted like we would expect people of that position to act," Stephens said of Roth and of Wise, who is a part-time preacher.

Two weeks after the alleged incident, Roth and deputies Katie Broda and Kevin Hinton resigned from the Wake County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Donnie Harrison has since apologized for his deputies' actions.

Roth testified that he didn't do anything wrong. He said he felt it was his duty to investigate why Wise was occupying two parking spaces.

But Wise, his wife and daughter testified that the deputies came running up to their vehicle without identifying themselves, yanked Wise out of the driver's seat and hit him and used pepper spray. Wise's daughter said she also was pepper sprayed during the incident.

No trial dates have been set for Hinton and Broda.

Wise has filed a civil lawsuit against the former deputies, the sheriff's office and Wake County.