By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Brooklyn prosecutor Michael Jaccarino resigned Thursday, a day after he pleaded guilty to assaulting an ambulance worker who was transporting him to the hospital for intoxication.

Jaccarino pleaded guilty Wednesday to reckless assault, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison, and was sentenced to 10 days of community service by Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Melissa Crane.

The Brooklyn district attorney's office confirmed that Jaccarino had resigned.

Jaccarino was seen drunkenly wandering on the roadway of the Brooklyn Bridge after midnight on Nov. 10. After an ambulance was called and picked him up, Jaccarino attacked Teresa Soler, an emergency medical technician, striking and choking her, according to Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Sherita Walton.

"Even though the visible injuries the defendant caused have healed, this case continues to affect her life on a daily basis," Walton said in court, according to a transcript of her remarks. "It is especially disturbing to her that this crime occurred at the hands of one similarly sworn to serve and protect the public."

Jaccarino, who was suspended without pay following his arrest, expressed remorse for the incident in court.

Soler and other EMTs had called on prosecutors to pursue a felony conviction, rather than a misdemeanor.

But Walton told Crane that Jaccarino's level of intoxication would have made it almost impossible to prove intent, a necessary element for felony assault.

"In the penal law, intoxication can be a defense to intentional crimes if the level of intoxication is significant," she said.

The investigation showed that Jaccarino and several friends rang up a $300 alcohol bill the night of the incident, and witnesses who encountered him said he was visibly drunk, Walton said.

Israel Miranda, the president of the EMTs, paramedics and fire inspectors union, said the legislature should consider altering the law to address what he called a "loophole" regarding intent.

"That worries me, because we deal with a lot of intoxicated patients," he said.

Lawyers who commit crimes are likely to face professional disciplinary action.

He is due back in court in April, when he will have to show the judge he has completed an alcohol treatment program and his community service.

The case is People v. Jaccarino, Criminal Court of the City of New York, New York County, No. 2012NY085905.

For the prosecution: Assistant District Attorney Sherita Walton.

For Jaccarino: Gary Farrell.

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