Crime & Safety
East Hampton Veteran Sergeant Michael Green Suspended Again
The discipline is related to a matter the town manager says "amounts to a dereliction of duty."
A veteran police sergeant who was disciplined in 2011 and who later became embroiled in the police chief controversy has again received disciplinary action and has been told he could be fired for any additional transgressions.
Sgt. Michael Green is in the midst of a 15-day unpaid suspension that began April 17 and will end May 6. He was placed on leave following an investigation into his failure to show up for work on the morning of Dec. 21, 2012.
His supervisors sought to reach him several times and eventually called police in Cromwell, where Green lives, to check on him. Cromwell police found him still sleeping at 9:30 a.m. He was supposed to report to work at 8 a.m., and eventually reported in three hours late that morning, according to a disciplinary letter he was sent last month by Town Manager Michael Maniscalco.
“As a supervisor within the police department it is imperative that you provide the best example possible to your colleagues, subordinates and the public. Showing up late to work undermines the required trust your fellow officers and the public must maintain within you,” Maniscalco said in his letter to Green.
He goes on to say that additional transgressions could result in Green’s firing.
“I am especially concerned that this is not the first time in recent history that you have engaged in behaviors that amount to a dereliction of duty … please be aware that the repetition of this type of behavior brings into question whether you should be continued in the employment of the Town of East Hampton.”
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Green, who has worked here for nearly 25 years and earns about $75,000 annually, was placed on leave in July of 2011 for misconduct that included leaving his shift without permission. That same year he was the subject of at least three internal affairs investigations that resulted in a five-day suspension.
He also was involved, for a time, in the controversy surrounding Chief Matthew Reimondo, who was abruptly laid off in June of 2010 when the chief’s job was eliminated. Reimondo and his supporters waged a referendum battle to get the position and the chief reinstated, a battle they won in November of 2010.
Green, in the interim, was promoted to lieutenant to oversee the department. In August of 2010 Reimondo filed a civil lawsuit against the town, which named Green as a defendant. The lawsuit was eventually settled.
Reimondo in January accepted an early retirement offer from the town and has been serving as the town’s interim chief while it searches for a replacement.
The town on Thursday morning will name the new chief.
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