John Muller will also have to undergo counseling and pay the victim's expenses.
NEW BRUNSWICK -- A former South Plainfield police chief was sentenced to four years of probation after he admitted that he shoved a woman and threatened her grandson at a picnic, prosecutors say.
John Muller, 73, was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to third-degree aggravated assault and harassment, a petty disorderly persons offense. Muller reached the plea agreement with assistant Middlesex County prosecutor Russell Curley.
PREVIOUSLY: Former police chief accused of threatening child, shoving grandma to the ground
A lawyer for Muller previously said the dispute began with water pistols at an Elks Labor Day picnic in 2013. An 8-year-old boy squirted Muller with water, and then went to a cooler to refill. Authorities said Muller grabbed the boy by the back of the neck and threatened him.
When the boy's 58-year-old grandmother intervened, authorities said, Muller shoved her. She fell and broke her wrist.
Muller served as police chief of the northern Middlesex County borough from 1992 to 1996. He will have to undergo anger management, alcohol counseling and must pay the woman's medical expenses, Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew Carey said in a news release.
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