Former Clarkstown Cop Wins Suit Against Town, Supervisor

CLARKSTOWN, NY — Another of the legal battles between Clarkstown's former police chief, the town board, a former police sergeant and the former Rockland County District Attorney has been settled in the sergeant's favor, according to The Journal News.

Stephen Cole-Hatchard agreed to $975,000 in a settlement after a federal jury announced awards including punitive damages against Clarkstown Town Supervisor George Hoehmann, TJN reported. The jury awarded economic and compensatory damages, attorney fees and punitive damages against Town Supervisor George Hoehmann equal to the political contribution that sparked the dispute.

Read the entire article on lohud.com

At the heart of the case, along with deep-seated political enmity, was a joint town and county program with the intriguing name 'Strategic Intelligence Unit.'

The unit's former director, Detective Sgt. Stephen Cole-Hatchard, sued the town for having him reassigned. In the suit, Cole-Hatchard said he was removed as director of the unit because he had been checking up on a large contribution to local Republican campaigns — including Hoehmann — from a member of the force who had been dismissed. SEE: Clarkstown Police Sgt. Sues Town Officials.

While the contribution was alleged to have been both secret and illegal, why the Strategic Intelligence Unit was investigating it was not disclosed.

The unit was also accused of doing surveillance on a Black community group in Haverstraw and on local Black Lives Matter activity, as well as political surveillance. While the police chief and the county DA initially told reporters there had not been any criminal history background checks done on any of the group's members, they later acknowledged doing them but insisted it was to protect them from unspecified threats. The town settled that case in 2017 for $300,000. SEE: Racial Profiling Suit Settled Against Strategic Intelligence Unit