O'Donnell v. Police Commission

• Citation: 174 Conn. 422,389 A.2d 739
• Court: Supreme Court of Connecticut
• Decision Date: 14 March 1978
• Parties: Brian M. O'DONNELL v. POLICE COMMISSION and Police Trial Board of the Town of Greenwich et al.

Page 739

389 A.2d 739

174 Conn. 422

Brian M. O'DONNELL v. POLICE COMMISSION and Police Trial Board of the Town of

Greenwich et al.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued Jan. 3, 1978.

Decided March 14, 1978.

James W. Macauley, Asst. Town Atty., Bridgeport, for appellants (defendants).

John Keogh, Jr., Norwalk, with whom, on the brief, was Kenneth M. Evans, Stamford, for appellee (plaintiff).

Before HOUSE, C. J., and COTTER, LOISELLE, BOGDANSKI and LONGO, JJ.

BOGDANSKI, Associate Justice.

The plaintiff, a sergeant in the Greenwich police department, appealed to the Court of Common Pleas from the action of the Greenwich police commission and trial board in suspending him and demoting him to the rank of a patrolman. The trial court sustained the plaintiff's appeal and ordered him reinstated to the status of a sergeant with all pay and benefits lost.

The following facts are undisputed: On the night of December 19, 1971, the plaintiff and two fellow officers were at the Field Stone Terrace Restaurant in the town of Norwalk. As a result of an altercation which arose, all three officers were arrested and the plaintiff was charged with assault, breach of the peace and failure to submit to fingerprinting.

The next day the plaintiff was suspended without pay and benefits by the defendant Stephen M. Baran, Jr., chief of the Greenwich police department, pursuant to § 3, paragraph 5, of the manual of police rules and regulations.

Thereafter, the plaintiff was notified to appear at a hearing on January 4, 1972, before the Greenwich police commission. After that hearing, the police commission ratified the action of Chief Baran and continued the suspension pending the disposition of the criminal charges and the further action of the Greenwich police trial board. Following a trial in the Circuit Court on April 13, 1972, the plaintiff was acquitted of the criminal charges.

On May 16, 1972, the police trial board held its hearing and determined that "(t)o the extent that the Chief of Police's charges ¹ of December 22, 1972, were based on the charges of which Sergeant O'Donnell was acquitted, Sergeant O'Donnell is found not guilty of said charges."

The police trial board, however, found the plaintiff guilty of interfering with the efforts of the Norwalk police and found such conduct unbecoming an officer of the Greenwich police department. The board then ordered that the plaintiff be demoted to the rank of patrolman, effective May 19, 1972, and that all pay from December 20, 1971, through April 12, 1972, be forfeited as a fine.

On appeal, the Court of Common Pleas found that the hearing of May 16, 1972, and the action taken was illegal and invalid and ordered the plaintiff reinstated with all back pay and benefits.

We shall address ourselves to the issue which is dispositive of the appeal. In one of the assigned errors, the defendant board claimed that the trial court erred "(i)n refusing to recognize the power, authority and discretion of the police trial board to determine the credibility of witnesses and to determine issues of fact."

The record reveals that three Norwalk police officers testified before the police trial board concerning the events at the Field Stone Terrace Restaurant on the night of December 19, 1971. ² The trial court nevertheless found that "(t)he evidence in the record does not support the conclusion that the plaintiff was active in interfering in the efforts of the Norwalk police; it merely shows that he was the victim of an unprovoked assault, dazed, confused and upset. The evidence in the record does not support the conclusion that the plaintiff had consumed alcoholic beverages to the extent that his actions and conduct during the course of the investigation by the Norwalk police, were influenced thereby."

The present matter is an administrative appeal. Conclusions reached by an administrative board must be upheld by the trial court if they are supported by the evidence that was heard. The credibility of witnesses and the...