This is a 5:15 p.m. update of a story posted originally at 1:14 this afternoon.



HOLYOKE - Mayor Michael J. Sullivan announced his decision today to suspend three police officers for 15 days without pay due their involvement in a bar fight while off duty on Dec. 18.



"It's something I hope the Holyoke Police Department and the city of Holyoke can put behind us," Sullivan said Tuesday.



But the three officers have appealed the decision to the state. And a lawyer for one of the officers described Sullivan's decision to uphold Police Chief Anthony R. Scott's recommendation to suspend the officers as nonsense since one officer was never charged of any criminal wrongdoing and the two other officers were found not guilty of all charges in court in relation to the incident.

One of the defense lawyers, Aaron Wilson, was critical of the chief for accepting the testimony of the three residents who were involved in the incident over that of the off-duty officers. "He deserted his men," he said of Scott.



Wilson represents his son, officer Joseph H. Wilson, who faces a 15 day suspension without pay along with two fellow officers: Timothy D. Skwira and Sean C. Shattuck.



Scott declined to comment on Sullivan's decision.



Sullivan, who is the appointing authority for the police department, reached his decision Monday after holding a grievance hearing Aug. 4 concerning the suspensions and deliberating for one week. Sullivan did not publicly release his decision until today since he was unable to contact the officers in person until Tuesday.



Sullivan said he was immediately informed on Tuesday by the president of police officers union that the union was appealing the decision. The appeal will be decided upon by the state Human Resources Department, Sullivan said. Such a decision could take several months, Sullivan added.



In the meantime, Sullivan said, the state agency will need to rule whether the officers wait to be suspended or serve their suspensions within the next three months as proposed by Sullivan and be reimbursed later if the state decides to overturn the suspensions.



Sullivan sent a five page letter to each officer outlining the reasons for the suspensions. Sullivan said Tuesday he based his decision on the officers' testimony.



"My discipline was all based on their testimony," Sullivan said. "They said they were gang members and guns were involved and threats were made to their families."



Sullivan said that the officers should have reported the incident immediately to a commanding officer.



"They have no one to blame but themselves," Sullivan said.



During a trial in late May and early June, in which Shattuck and Wilson faced charges of assault and battery in connection with the Dec. 18 incident, the officers testified that they heard one of the patrons in Pal Joey's bar on Northampton Street talking about a pistol in Spanish. At the request of the bar owner, the three officers escorted three people out of the bar, including Christopher Martinez, whom the officers were accused of beating up.



The Palmer District Court jury on June 2 found Shattuck and Wilson not guilty of all charges in connection with the incident. Skwira was never charged.



Aaron Wilson represented his son at the five-day trial.



On Tuesday, he reiterated that the officers did nothing wrong. "Police officers get threatened every day of their life," he said. "It's no big deal to them."



As for not reporting the incident immediately to a superior officer, Aaron Wilson said the officers did not do so since an investigation into the case began immediately on the morning of Dec. 18.



"The truth of the matter is the chief overreacted," Wilson said.



All three officers were suspended with pay immediately after the Dec. 18 incident. Skwira reported back to work soon afterwards. Shattuck and Wilson returned to work on June 6.



Then last month, Scott requested five day suspensions without pay for all three officers. Scott also recommended the three officers be suspended without pay for additional time. Scott requested that Skwira be suspended for an additional 30 days, Wilson for 55 days and Shattuck for 115 days.



Sullivan decided to suspend the officers without pay for 15 days since, he said, "they were all equally culpable. I don't think there was any distinction."



"I owned a bar for 15 years," Sullivan added. "I know how to get people out of a bar. You get people outside and close the door."



