ALBANY -- Veteran Albany police Sgt. Peter J. McKenna was fired Thursday for his questionable actions last year on the night a city detective was involved in a high-speed, alcohol-fueled hit-and-run crash.

Albany Police Chief Steven Krokoff terminated McKenna after he was found guilty by an arbitrator on nine of 14 disciplinary charges.

McKenna, 47, a member of the force since 1992, had been suspended since Feb. 13, 2009. That was the day McKenna was interviewed by internal affairs detectives about allegations he may have tried to prevent the arrest a month earlier of George P. McNally, a city detective later convicted of reckless driving and driving while intoxicated.

"Today, based on an arbitrator's decision, Sgt. Peter McKenna is terminated from the Albany Police Department," said Chief Krokoff. "Although we are pleased by the arbitrator's decision I would like to assure the entire community that one officer's conduct should not detract from the professional manner in which the overwhelming number of officers serve the community every day." No other details on the findings of the arbitrator were immediately available.

McKenna was on-duty and driving a marked SUV in January 2009 when he followed McNally, who was off-duty and intoxicated, into neighboring Bethlehem following a hit-and-run crash in Albany. The sergeant admitted confronting McNally outside a Hannaford grocery store but did not arrest him or notify Bethlehem police that the suspected drunken detective was getting back behind the wheel and leaving.

McKenna initially denied telling Bethlehem police, who had responded to the call of a driver out of control, to back off. But he later told internal affairs detectives that he could not recall having that conversation.

For their part, Bethlehem police also did not pursue McNally or take steps to get him off the road immediately after they spoke to McKenna. The town's officers also did not go to McNally's residence to arrest him as he arrived home. McNally's registration information, which contains his address, had been broadcast by dispatchers. Town officials later said their officers could not locate McNally because a dispatcher's information was incomplete.

McKenna, a former longtime detective who had been a patrol sergeant since October 2005, told internal affairs detectives that within 20 minutes of McNally's hit-and-run crash, and while police were still looking for the off-duty detective, that he used a cell phone to call a police union representative to notify them of what was unfolding. McKenna also told detectives he tried to call McNally on his cell phone.

McNally abruptly retired from the force earlier this year as he awaited an arbitrator's decision on the department's request that he also be terminated. Former police Chief James W. Tuffey had initiated charges last year that sought to fire both McKenna and McNally.

McNally was intoxicated as his red pickup truck crashed into parked cars on New Scotland Avenue that night. A witness said he then drove off, careening off snowbanks, and cut through a gas station parking lot as he drove erratically across Albany and into Bethlehem, where he lives.

McNally was driving home from an area Elks Lodge meeting, where he had been drinking, when an off-duty officer from Schenectady, Detective John Maloney, began pursuing him. Maloney called 911 with his cell phone after McNally's truck crossed a center line and nearly hit him. Maloney gave chase in his Jeep Cherokee and reported to a dispatcher that McNally's truck at times reached speeds of 70 mph.

In a recording of the call Maloney could be heard pressing the dispatcher about why no police cars were coming to his aid. At the time of the pursuit, records obtained by the Times Union showed that several officers and police supervisors, including McKenna, were using cell phones to communicate rather than police radios. One of those officers later told internal affairs detectives that the practice of using cell phones to communicate was routine.

All of the officers, supervisors and dispatches told internal affairs detectives that no one talked about protecting McNally or took steps to help him elude arrest. Still, at least one officer told investigators that McKenna had instructed him not to pursue McNally into Bethlehem.

At a Hannaford store in Bethlehem, Maloney told the dispatcher that McNally exited his damaged truck and walked inside. A copy of the store surveillance camera obtained by the Times Union showed McNally entering the store, walking around the cash registers and immediately exiting the store.

Maloney told a dispatcher that police were arriving and then his call disconnected. McKenna arrived outside the store in his marked SUV as McNally exited but did not stop him.

Moments earlier McKenna had ordered an Albany police officer not to cross into Bethlehem to pursue McNally. That officer, Brian Dyer, told investigators that he turned around at the Bethlehem town line and returned to the scene of the crash on New Scotland Avenue.

There were several police cars nearby when McNally was confronted outside the Hannaford, including two units from Bethlehem. Still, he was not taken into custody at his home until nearly two hours after he left the store. When a police supervisor arrived McNally was flanked by two leaders of his police officers union, Christian Mesley and James Lyman, who were allowed to accompany him to internal affairs. McNally was arrested there after refusing to submit to an alcohol test.

Lyman moved McNally's damaged truck into McNally's garage just before an Albany police supervisor arrived at the residence. The supervisor transported McNally to Albany's internal affairs division, where he was arrested after refusing to submit to an alcohol test.

Police in Albany and Bethlehem said they were unable to find and stop McNally's speeding truck. The off-duty Schenectady officer relayed to a dispatcher the license plate, vehicle, physical description of the driver, and direction of travel as he followed the truck.

Brendan J. Lyons can be reached at 454-5547 or by e-mail at blyons@timesunion.com. Staff writer Jordan Carleo-Evangelist contributed to this report.