Nora Mishanec is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media the New York State Police confirmed August 5 the department is now in charge of investigating the alleged assault of Harold Handy over the July 4 weekend at the home of Valatie business owner Alex Rosenstrach and his wife, Columbia County Sheriff’s Deputy Kelly Briscoe Rosenstrach. The Columbia Paper first reported over the weekend that District Attorney Paul Czajka had requested the case be investigated by state officials after new information came to light. Columbia County Sheriff David Bartlett said in a statement August 5, that on the day after the alleged assault, he wanted to turn this case over to state police, citing concerns about a potential conflict. However, according to Bartlett, the state police declined the request. “At that time, the New York State Police declined to take the case, but agreed to assist sheriff’s investigators, and work side by side with them,” Bartlett said. “Since that day, the investigation has been ongoing and very active. The state police have now agreed to handle this investigation in its entirety.” Barrett said his office will continue to cooperate with state police investigators. “I asked for the state police to handle this investigation right away, and I support the decision for them to take this over,” he said. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.