NYPD precinct boss Juanita Holmes brutally beaten by jealous ex-cop husband,

A top NYPD commander was brutally beaten by her jealous ex-cop husband who suspected she was cheating on him with a detective, sources told the Daily News on Thursday.

Deputy Inspector Juanita Holmes wound up in the hospital with broken ribs and her estranged husband, retired Hempstead, L.I., Detective William Fowlkes, was arrested, sources said.

Fowlkes, 47, followed Holmes, 46, to the other man's Suffolk County home on Monday and began pummeling her on the front lawn, sources said.

Her piercing screams brought Holmes' friend charging out of his house - and he chased Fowlkes away, the sources said.

Suffolk County cops busted Fowlkes on Tuesday and charged him with misdemeanor assault, trespassing and criminal mischief.

A judge gave Holmes, the commander of the 81st Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, an order of protection against Fowlkes, who bills himself as a "success coach."

The domestic-violence incident sent shock waves through the NYPD.

"Inspector Holmes is a highly regarded police executive who is the victim of a terrible crime," said Roy Richter, president of the NYPD Captains Endowment Association.

"She has the care and support of her friends and co-workers as she recovers from this traumatic act of violence."

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly recently named Holmes to run the 81st Precinct, which had been rocked by a crime-stat fudging scandal under previous leadership.

NYPD brass had no immediate comment on the assault.

"She's a good lady, and a good cop and this is a horrible thing to have happened to her," a police source said.

Holmes and Fowlkes, who once shared a home in Baldwin, L.I., recently separated and were living in different apartments, sources said.

It was unclear if Holmes was romantically involved with the man she was visiting - who is a member of the NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force - or if they are just friends.

Fowlkes believed his wife was having an affair and had been privately surveilling her to prove it, sources said.

A source who knows both Holmes and Fowlkes described them as "both good people."

"Sometimes things happen and emotions take over," that source said.

Fowlkes could not be reached for comment yesterday. A message left on his answering machine was not returned.

He was released Tuesday after being arraigned in Suffolk County First District Court in Central Islip and told to return April 8.

Holmes had yet to return to duty yesterday.

Twice-married, she is a 24-year NYPD veteran from a family of cops. Four sisters and a brother are on the force; another brother is a corrections officer; and another is a bounty hunter.

"I've had a lot of sleepless nights on this job, but I love what I do," she told the Brooklyn Eagle community newspaper in October.
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The jilted husband of NYPD Deputy Inspector Juanita Holmes admitted Friday he got into a furious fight with his wife - but insisted she was cheating on him with another cop.

"She's having an affair," William Fowlkes told the Daily News.

And he debunked reports that the couple was estranged.

"We aren't separated. We sleep in the same bed, live in the same house. What happened, the fighting, should not have happened. But she was having an affair."

Fowlkes, 47, spoke out for the first time after the NYPD was rocked by revelations that one of their top commanders was involved a love triangle that turned violent.

Sources have identified Fowlkes' rival as Detective Robert Santos, 39, of the NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force.

A retired Hempstead, L.I., detective, Fowlkes admitted he tailed his wife to her alleged lover's house in Suffolk County on Monday. He said he sat outside the house for two hours and scoffed at Holmes' claim that he was "just a friend."

"What were they doing for two hours - talking about Libya?" he said. "Come on."

Fowlkes said that when he got tired of waiting, he stormed over to the door.

"I go up and bang on the door," he told The News. "I see her look down from an upstairs window - bet its a bedroom."

Holmes came down 15 minutes later, he said.

"She attacked me," Fowlkes claimed. "We were fighting. We fell to the ground. Maybe I fell on top of her."

Holmes, 46, wound up in the hospital with broken ribs.

Fowlkes said that as his wife lay sprawled on the lawn, he knocked on the door again. He recognized the man who answered the door as a guy who had been drinking with his wife at a nearby bar the night before.

"He had a gun out, pointed in my face," Fowlkes said. "And I'm like, 'Oh my God, it's the guy from last night.'"

Fowlkes said he wasn't armed so "I got out of there." He said he regretted his domestic drama veered into violence.

"It should not have happened," he said. "She's good people. We both are. I did snap, I guess, but she is having an affair. We have been married 10 years."

Fowlkes turned himself in Tuesday. He was charged with misdemeanor assault, trespassing and criminal mischief at told to return April 8 to the Suffolk County court.

A judge gave Holmes an order of protection against Fowlkes, who bills himself as a "success coach."

Fowlkes' lawyer said Holmes brought the beatdown on herself.

"The provocation that caused this very tragic incident, really, was put into play by the actions of Inspector Holmes," attorney Stephen LaMagna said.

"It appears inspector Holmes, regardless of her position within the NYPD, was engaged in a secret, insidious affair with another member of the NYPD."

A twice-married 24-year NYPD veteran, Holmes did not comment on her husband's explosive affair charge. While Santos does not work directly Holmes, he is a subordinate and the NYPD frowns on affairs between the ranks.

Holmes was holed up in her home in North Baldwin, L.I., where the detective guarding the door accepted a basket of fruit for her from Norman Seabrook, president of the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association. The attached card read, "Get well soon."

Sources said Holmes will be heading to Jamaica next week for a friend's wedding - only she'll be going without her husband.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly recently named Holmes to run the 81st Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, which had been rocked by a crime-stat fudging scandal under previous leadership.

Holmes' marital mayhem sent shock waves through the NYPD brass, but cops at her precinct shrugged it off.

"Nothing surprises me anymore," said a detective, who declined to give his name. "Stuff gets buried all the time."

He said he doubted the scandal would hurt Holmes' career.

"She's a rising star," he said. "She'll be back."