This played out differently than expected.
It occurred Dec 30, 2006
JC officer's alleged false account raises racism concerns
Last Dec. 30, Johnson City Police Officer Matthew C. Romano radioed in to dispatch that he was watching a suspicious vehicle parked in Calvary Cemetery. He called again moments later requesting backup. When police arrived they found him lying on the ground, critically injured by two stab wounds to the abdomen.
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FBI joins search for two men in JC attack
JOHNSON CITY — The hunt continues for two men wanted in connection with a Saturday night stabbing that put a village patrolman in the hospital. Matthew Romano, a six-year veteran of the Johnson City Police Department, was at Wilson Regional Medical Center on Sunday recovering from two stab wounds to his lower abdomen.
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JOHNSON CITY — Hundreds of people were questioned, vehicles stopped and suspicions circulated based on a story prosecutors say was invented by a village police officer.
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Strange twist in JC policeman stabbing: In the waning days of 2006, Johnson City police officer Matthew C. Romano, 30, reported being stabbed in a cemetery by a young black man with matted dreadlocks and a diamond stud earring. Romano's story spurred a massive manhunt involving every police agency in the county, the state police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The investigations went nowhere for three months, and then Johnson City investigators switched the focus onto Romano, noting discrepancies in his account, according to Chief Douglas Potts.
In October, Romano was charged with one count of first-degree offering a false report for filing, a felony, and third-degree falsely reporting an incident, a misdemeanor. He pleaded innocent.
