Treasure Coast Newspapers
FORT PIERCE Former Fort Pierce Police Officer Albert Eckrode was handcuffed, fingerprinted and taken to jail Thursday as part of a plea deal he entered to resolve charges related to striking a hospital patient in February 2020.
Eckrode, 32, was ordered to serve 90 days in jail followed by two years of probation after entering no contest pleas to felony charges of battery and official misconduct and a misdemeanor count of filing a false police report.
He also was given credit for 35 days he’s already served at the St. Lucie County Jail.
Eckrode was captured on video Feb. 20, 2020 repeatedly punching a 38-year-old man at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center and Heart Institute, who’d been found “intoxicated and combative” and was transported to the hospital’s mental health unit for an evaluation, court records show.