Sgt. Michael Marcucilli has been named in multiple brutality cases involving the Mount Vernon Police Department. / Facebook photo
MOUNT VERNON — The city police union would likely challenge any effort to discipline a sergeant who allegedly beat a 12-year-old with a baton because too much time has passed since the 2009 incident, a union lawyer said.
The city’s legal department said last week that with the recent conclusion of civil litigation against Sgt. Michael Marcucilli, police officials and outside labor counsel would review his conduct to determine whether disciplinary action was appropriate.
Although state civil service law mandates an 18-month window for bringing charges, Christopher Kurtz of Bond, Schoeneck & King, the city’s labor counsel, said police disciplinary matters in Mount Vernon are controlled by the city charter, which sets no time limit.
Kurtz said the city is relying on a 2001 appellate court decision that found the state law was not intended to supplant longstanding local laws on police discipline.
But lawyer Gordon Haesloop said the union’s position is that the state’s time limit should control, particularly because neither the city code nor the police collective-bargaining agreement includes a time limit. He acknowledged circumstances could exist to make delayed charges possible. But he would not speculate on those since no charges have been filed.
Federal civil juries have twice found that Marcucilli used excessive force after his 2006 promotion to sergeant. The Journal News revealed last week that the city has spent $937,000 on verdicts, settlements and legal fees to defend him in those and a third in which a man claimed Marcucilli did not intervene when he was beaten by officers.
On Jan. 12, 2007, Marcucilli allegedly threw retired Westchester County Detective Paul Weather against a wall during a Mount Vernon High School basketball game. A jury awarded Weather $315,000.
Marcucilli was also accused of using a baton to repeatedly hit 12-year-old Vanney Allen, who broke into A.B. Davis Middle School on Feb. 28, 2009. In that case, three fellow officers testified against Marcucilli and the jury awarded $500,000. But a settlement called for the city to pay $250,000 and Marcucilli $25,000.
According to court documents filed by Allen’s lawyer, the Mount Vernon police Internal Affairs Bureau substantiated the allegations against Marcucilli and recommended discipline. However, the chief of police never filed departmental charges and the District Attorney’s Office chose not to prosecute the sergeant.
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