Opinion
14734 Index No. 101867/19 Case No. 2020-03498
12-02-2021
In the Matter of Police Officer Dellon HALL, Petitioner, v. Dermot SHEA, as Police Commissioner of the City of New York, et al., Respondents.
London & Worth, LLP, New York (Kyle R. Silverstein of counsel), for petitioner. Georgia M. Pestana, Corporation Counsel, New York (Tahirih M. Sadrieh of counsel), for respondents.
London & Worth, LLP, New York (Kyle R. Silverstein of counsel), for petitioner.
Georgia M. Pestana, Corporation Counsel, New York (Tahirih M. Sadrieh of counsel), for respondents.
Webber, J.P., Friedman, Oing, Shulman, Pitt, JJ.
Determination of respondent Police Commissioner, dated August 12, 2019, which terminated petitioner's employment with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) upon findings, after a hearing, that he, among other things, engaged in conduct prejudicial to the good order, efficiency, and discipline of the NYPD, unanimously confirmed, the petition denied, and the proceeding brought pursuant to CPLR article 78 (transferred to this Court by order of Supreme Court, New York County [Joan A. Madden, J.], entered August 14, 2020), dismissed, without costs.
The hearing testimony constitutes substantial evidence to support the finding that petitioner struck a three-year-old child on the chest (see 300 Gramatan Ave. Assoc. v. State Div. of Human Rights, 45 N.Y.2d 176, 180, 408 N.Y.S.2d 54, 379 N.E.2d 1183 [1978] ). The Hearing Officer was free to credit the witnesses’ testimony corroborating the child's statements, since weighing the evidence and choosing between conflicting accounts was solely within the province of the administrative agency (see Matter of Freeman v. Ward, 162 A.D.2d 127, 127, 556 N.Y.S.2d 563 [1st Dept. 1990], lv denied 76 N.Y.2d 706, 560 N.Y.S.2d 988, 561 N.E.2d 888 [1990] ). Similarly, substantial evidence supports a finding that petitioner was guilty of making misleading statements regarding the incident to an NYPD investigator during an official interview, as petitioner's statements to the investigator contradicted credible evidence of the alleged conduct.
The penalty of dismissal does not shock the conscience ( Matter of Pell v. Board of Educ. of Union Free School Dist. No. 1 of Towns of Scarsdale & Mamaroneck, Westchester County, 34 N.Y.2d 222, 233, 356 N.Y.S.2d 833, 313 N.E.2d 321 [1974] ). Where police discipline is at issue, our review must allow "great leeway" to the Commissioner's determinations regarding the appropriate punishment, "for it is the Commissioner, not the courts, who is accountable to the public for the integrity of the Department" ( Matter of Kelly v. Safir, 96 N.Y.2d 32, 38, 724 N.Y.S.2d 680, 747 N.E.2d 1280 [2001] [internal quotation marks omitted]).