Wrongful Termination Case For Fired LI 'Top Cop' Heads To Trial

SOUTHOLD, NY — A fired Suffolk County "Top Cop" who has long maintained that he was wrongfully dismissed will have his day in court.

The Supreme Court upheld a complaint by fired Southold Police officer Garrett Lake, opening the door for the case to move to trial.

Lake, who was named a Suffolk County "Top Cop" for his number of DWI arrests in May 2016 and was fired just over two weeks later, sued Southold Town and stated he believed the firing was politically motivated.

Lake, who was fired on May 19, 2016, four days before the end of his probationary period, is represented by attorney Eric Bressler of Mattituck's Wickham, Bressler and Geasa, PC; his petition was initially denied in 2017 by the New York State Supreme Court. He then filed a complaint and sought damages.

The decision by the Supreme Court's Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, dated Dec. 30, states that video recordings — which were reportedly the basis for Lake's termination — be released for viewing; in his petition, Lake said that Southold Town had not "produced any contemporaneous records to support its assertion that he had performed poorly as a police officer."

According to the Appellate Division's decision, since Lake "submitted sufficient evidence to raise a triable issue of fact as to whether the reasons put forth by the town were pretextual, the town was not entitled to a summary determination on the petition. To the contrary, the record presented triable issues of fact as to whether Lake's employment was terminated in bad faith for reasons unrelated to his job performance."

The town maintained that Lake was fired for "overzealous" behavior during traffic stops.

However, Lake, the petition alleges, believes he was fired "in retaliation for his refusal to give special or preferential treatment to two influential members of the community; a chief of a nearby fire department, and an individual with a close relationship to a local political party." The petition said Lake's performance in arresting those two individuals, who were "suspected of driving while intoxicated" after crashes, was "lawful."

"We are extremely pleased with the decision of the Appellate Division, Second Department, issued Dec. 30, 2020 which reversed the dismissal of Garrett Lake's petition seeking reinstatement and back pay for wrongful termination from the Southold Police Department," Bressler said. "We believe the Appellate Division correctly identified and determined the issues and afforded appropriate relief to Mr. Lake. Specifically, the Appellate Division held that Mr. Lake had submitted sufficient evidence of wrongful termination so as to entitle him to a trial of the issues. The Appellate Division further held that Mr. Lake was entitled to discovery of the evidence upon which it was alleged his termination was based, which the lower court had denied. We anticipate the proceeding moving forward and having Mr. Lake's meritorious claims of wrongful termination resolved at trial."

Southold Town Attorney Bill Duffy told Patch that the appellate division's decision is not a final decision."It does not address the merits of Lake’s claims, rather, the decision found that the trial court erred procedurally when it denied the petitioner’s request that the town make available certain video footage and dismissed the petition without a trial," he said.

"We respectfully disagree with the appellate division," Duffy said. "We agree with the trial court that Lake’s claims are without merit and that Lake failed to raise an issue of fact that required a trial. Regardless of whether or not the trial court erred procedurally, we remain confident that the town will prevail on the merits of the case and Lake’s claims will be found to be without merit and his petition will be dismissed. Because the appellate division decision is not a final order and only remands the matter back to the trial court, we cannot appeal the decision as of right. Rather, we have to make a motion to the appellate division to seek leave to appeal to the court of appeals. We are currently evaluating with our outside counsel whether to pursue that course of action."

According to the initial complaint, Lake said he believes his termination of employment was "impermissible by New York State law" and was "a result of political pressure and unrelated to job performance." Lake alleged that his firing last year was politically motivated and sought reinstatement.

Due to the firing, the appeal stated, Lake lost salary and benefits, suffered "stress, humiliation, embarrassment, and mental anguish", and incurred legal fees; he also sought damages, which were not specified in the appeal.

After he was fired, Lake filed an Article 78 seeking a judicial determination to vacate the decision to terminate his probationary employment, with the goal of being reinstated to his position.

Supreme Court Justice William G. Ford, in the court's first ruling, said the town maintained Lake's dismissal was due to "poor or problematic performance."

Specifically, Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley, while "not finding Lake to be the worst performer in the department, had received certain civilian complaints painting petitioner to be overaggressive and overzealous in his use of police tactics in conducting vehicle traffics stops, searches and arrests," the court's first decision read.

"Those complaints were investigated and prompted Chief Flatley to review Lake's department-issued vehicle camera and body microphone audio and video recordings focusing on review of stops, searches, arrests by Lake. More specifically, Flatley reviewed arrests made by petitioner on July 14, 2015 where a woman complained about harassment. Respondent contends that complaint could neither be substantiated or unfounded. Flatley also reviewed footage of an arrest made by petitioner on August 28, 2015 for DWI."

Based upon review of this footage, the court's initial decision read, "Flatley identified a concern regarding unjustified and questionable use of police action by Lake so far as the probable cause or justification for stops and searches which was not always objectively evident. Furthermore, Flatley testified that Lake did not always deploy his body microphone as required by departmental protocol, thus when civilian complaints were lodged against him for unjustified or overly aggressive use of police action, respondent could not rely on footage to corroborate or refute the lodged complaints."

Lake, the court said, was counseled by Flatley on October 6, 2015 in an effort to "redirect" him from overly aggressive police action.

On November 13, 2015, Lake attended a training session offered by the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, East End Bureau for additional instruction or retraining concerning proper vehicle traffic stops and searched, the court added.

Subsequently, first the decision said, Flatley, after further arrest video review, "identified other problematic or questionable arrests made by Lake for criminal possession or narcotics on Nov. 22 and 23, 2015."

In early 2016, Flatley appeared before the Southold town board to discuss Lake's progress during probation, "including his concerns regarding Lake's police tactics and the resulting civilian complaints. Flatley made a recommendation at executive session before the town board, given his concerns, that the "petitioner not be offered a continued role as a permanent police officer," the decision states.

The town board accepted the recommendation and voted for Lake's dismissal.

Lake's claims

According to Lake's petition, the Town of Southold "bowed to political pressure" applied by the Jamesport Fire Department, "incensed by the proper arrest of Lake" of David J. McKillop, 55, of Aquebogue, a Jamesport Assistant Fire Chief who was arrested and charged after he allegedly drove drunk and crashed his fire department vehicle into Southold street signs and then fled the scene before being arrested in Mattituck; McKillop pleaded not guilty at his arraignment.

Lake, who was working in the Mattituck sector, said he was contacted by Southold Town Police Officer Robert Bopp, who was working in the Southold sector and told him that he was searching for a fire department chief's vehicle that had allegedly left the scene of an accident in Southold, the petition said.

After locating the vehicle, the petition stated that the fire chief, his son, and a Jamesport Fire Department commissioner who were also in the car "demanded 'special treatment' and asserted 'connections' to other law enforcement agencies. Lake properly treated the arrest similarly to all other arrests and did not afford the fire chief 'special treatment,'" the petition said.

"Thereafter, the Commissioners of the Jamesport Fire Department and politicians complained to the town supervisor concerning the arrest. The Commissioners also complained to the Police Chief, who, in an unusual practice, permitted a Jamesport Commissioner to view the police car video of the stop and subsequent arrests which justified the arrest. The police chief advised Lake that the town board in an executive session questioned the necessity of an arrest notwithstanding the clear evidence of the fire chief's intoxication and leaving the scene. The police chief supported the arrest...The police chief further advised Lake that Lake's termination of employment was brought up before the town board and that the police chief did not support the termination," the petition said.

The limo crash

Lake's initial petition also stated that John Helf, Sr., then vice president of the Southold Town GOP, was at the scene of fatal 2015 limo crash in Cutchogue that left four young women dead. Lake arrested the driver of the pickup, Steve Romeo, and charged him with DWI, police said.

"Apparently, Mr. Helf was well known to and friendly with Mr. Romeo and Mr. Helf attempted to become involved in Lake's investigation but Lake did not permit such involvement," the petition reads. "Mr. Helf can be seen in the video memorializing the events at the scene. As a result of the arrest of Mr. Romeo at the scene, Lake was informed by a former town board member that Mr. Helf stated at Republican events that Lake would lose his job."

Several days later, the petition says that Captain Frank Kruszeski had been contacted by "Joseph Sawicki, the former Republican Suffolk County Comptroller and ... Suffolk County Assistant Deputy Police Commissioner for Finance, and Mr. Sawicki had made inquiry regarding the propriety of Mr. Romeo's arrest. Upon information and belief, Mr. Sawicki also contacted the town board."

The town denied that Helf, Sawicki or the Jamesport Fire Department ever criticized the petitioner or called for his dismissal, the decision says.

The petition also stated that after applying to be rehired by the Southampton Town Police Department, Lake could not be offered a position because Southold Town did not "offer a reason for his termination of employment" and it would need to be investigated. "The town's actions have at this juncture rendered Lake functionally unemployable in his chosen field and effectively ended his career in law enforcement, the petition stated.

Lake's performance reviews were all "excellent," the petition stated.

Flatley and Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell were advised not to comment on ongoing litigation, Duffy said.

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