Natasha Vaughn-Holdridge reports in Columbia-Greene Media that two days after the father of Harold Handy III, who was beaten in a police-involved incident last year, made allegations of bribery against Columbia County Sheriff David Bartlett, Handy denied those charges his father made. Bartlett also denied the father's allegations of official misconduct and bribery. The younger Handy was beaten near death at a party on the night of July 4, 2020 at the Kinderhook home of Columbia County Sheriff Deputy Kelly Rosenstrach and her husband Alex Rosenstrach, the former owner of ClubLife Gym in Valatie. Both Rosenstrachs and Bryan Haag, 38, of Kinderhook and Cory Gaylord, 32, of Craryville were included in a 25-count indictment with multiple felony charges and second-degree gang assault against each defendant. But there is no date for a trial. The victim's father began alleging at an Oct. 23 Kinderhook rally, that the sheriff conspired with Rosenstrach, and attempted to arrange a meeting with Carl Williams, of Wil-Roc Farm in Stuyvesant, at a corn field on his farm where he offered his son $700,000. But the assault victim denies all that happened. “Sheriff Bartlett had reached out directly to see how I was doing,” Handy III said Oct. 25. “My father-in- law Carl Williams and I met Bartlett, not in a corn field, but right in front of my in-laws’ farm shop. There was nothing secretive, and Bartlett was definitely not there as a representative of Alex to negotiate a bribe.” But the assault victim Handy did criticize Bartlett's handling of the case at the start. “My opinion is SIU [state police Special Investigations Unit] did not release information to or work directly with the sheriff’s department,” Handy said. “I believe Bartlett had failed to do his job in my case, and I will be voting for Don Krapf for sheriff.” Republican Bartlett is currently running for re-election against Democrat Don Krapf. Rosenstrach is among the donors who have given Bartlett's campaign the most money, all prior to the incident, though Bartlett has refused to return the donations. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.