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A former Hyattsville City police officer will serve three years probation for assaulting a man with a metal baton while off-duty.

Todd O. Prawdzik agreed to an Alford plea in Prince George's County District Court on Monday on the charge of second-degree assault stemming from the Jan. 24, 2008 incident. The plea acknowledges the state has enough evidence to gain a conviction but doesn't admit wrong-doing, said Ramon V. Korionoff, a spokesman for Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey (D).

According to charging documents, Melty Danny Castillo-Hernandez, 18, of Hyattsville, was walking through a parking lot at 5950 Ager Road while on his way home at about 8 p.m. A stranger, whom Castillo-Hernandez could only later identify as a man from Afghanistan, asked him for a cigarette. After the two men sat together, they noticed red laser dots pointed at them from a second floor window of a nearby house.

Moments later, Prawdzik and his twin brother, Jeff Prawdzik, a Riverdale Park police officer, approached them, Todd Prawdzik asked the men, "Do you have somewhere to be?" the documents state.

Castillo-Hernandez, who saw a Chevrolet Blazer with a Hyattsville Police seal and a Riverdale Park police cruiser in the parking lot, asked Todd Prawdzik if he was a police officer. Charging documents state Todd Prawdzik then hit Castillo-Hernandez on the head with a metal baton and said, "What do you think?"

The two off-duty officers continued to hit both men, who eventually ran away, according to the charging documents.

Todd Prawdzik began working for Hyattsville police in early 2007 and stopped March 13, 2009, Hyattsville Police Chief Douglas K. Holland said.

The department suspended Todd Prawdzik's police powers after a September 2008 incident in which, while off duty, he exchanged blows with Hyattsville resident Matthew James Crouch in a traffic dispute. The second-degree assault charge that police filed against Crouch in the incident was dropped because Todd Prawdzik's police powers were suspended and he couldn't attend the court date, Holland said.

Hyattsville City Police initiated the investigation into the January beating and brought the results to the State's Attorney's Office, Holland said.

"Without their good investigation, we would not have seen this guilty plea," Korionoff said.

Holland called Todd Prawdzik's January actions an "isolated incident."

"I don't think it's representative of the services Hyattsville provides to the residents," Holland said.

Holland said he couldn't provide details on what duties Todd Prawdzik performed between his suspension and March 2009, saying it's a personnel matter.

Todd Prawdzik's defense attorney, Timothy Maloney, declined to comment.

Riverdale Park suspended Jeff Prawdzik's policing powers when he was indicted but reinstated them Wednesday after the state put his case on the inactive docket.

The case will remain on the docket for three years, during which the state can ask the court to put it back on the active docket for trial.

Riverdale Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers said Jeff Prawdzik was mostly doing dispatching jobs and "we're excited to have him back."

"We're pleased the state's attorney had no evidence to present and dropped the case," Chambers said.

Jeff Prawdzik began working for Riverdale Park's force in January 2006.

Korionoff said Jeff Prawdzik's case was placed on the inactive docket in part because the alleged victim in the case, the second unidentified man, is missing.

Jeff Prawdzik's defense attorney, Robert C. Bonsib, said his client was prepared to go to his trial, which was scheduled for June 15, to prove he wasn't guilty of wrong-doing.

"He would have told the truth about what happened, and whether that helped or hurt his brother, let the chips fall where they may," Bonsib said.

E-mail Elahe Izadi at eizadi@gazette.net.