TROY — Members of the Troy City Council have scheduled a meeting next week to examine how the administration of Mayor Patrick Madden secretly hired a law enforcement expert to refute the findings of an internal investigation into the fatal police shooting of a DWI suspect.

Madden's administration has declined to release a copy of the police expert's 19-page legal memorandum. They said it undermined the internal affairs report, recently made public by a federal magistrate, that concluded a patrol sergeant forced Edson Thevenin's car to crash into a concrete barrier in April 2016, and then lied about the circumstances that led him to fatally shoot the man.

Madden and the city's corporation counsel, James Caruso, did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.

Troy Police Chief Brian Owens has also rejected a request to allow Capt. Joseph L. Centanni, who authored the 69-page internal affairs report, to appear before the council and answer questions about his investigation. The department's spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the chief's decision.

"My client is ready, willing and eager to assist the City Council in getting to the bottom of this matter," said Mathew B. Tully, Centanni's attorney. "However, my client’s appearance before the City Council must be approved by the mayor, who doesn’t seem eager to allow the bright light of justice to shine on this tragedy."

The council's Law Committee is scheduled to discuss the matter on Sept. 4.

City Council President Carmella R. Mantello, who is pushing for the council to probe the matter, said its members were informed of neither the internal investigation nor the city's hiring of Michael D. Ranalli, an attorney and former Glenville police chief who issued a 19-page report that city leaders said refuted Centanni's work.

John Salka, a spokesman for Madden, previously said the administration considers Ranalli's report "attorney work product" and "has opted not to disclose these materials at this time."

Madden's administration has also declined to provide any details on its hiring of Ranalli, who is considered an expert on use-of-force cases.

In a statement two weeks ago, Mantello said "the council did not pass legislation to hire Michael Ranalli pursuant to the requirements of .... the City Charter. That section says in part that the corporation counsel may hire outside assistance with the written consent and a compensation approved by the mayor and City Council."

Ranalli was quietly hired last year to review the internal affairs report filed in September 2018 by Centanni.

The internal investigation began in January 2018, when the state attorney general's office ended its investigation of the 2016 fatal shooting and issued a report criticizing the Troy Police Department's handling of the case. The attorney general's report said it could "not disprove" Sgt. Randall French's account that he believed he was in imminent danger of being struck by Thevenin's vehicle when he opened fire, killing the 37-year-old.

Centanni concluded that French's statements about what happened were "inconceivable," and he accused the patrol sergeant of providing false testimony when he claimed that he opened fire as Thevenin's vehicle pinned him against his police cruiser.

Centanni said ballistics tests and accident reconstruction scenarios made it more likely that French jumped out of his car and fired two shots through Thevenin's windshield before he moved to his left and was pinned by the Honda as it rolled slowly forward. French then fired an additional six shots through the windshield, the report said.

Thevenin was struck seven times, receiving wounds to both arms, his nose and — the fatal shot — his right collarbone, according to an autopsy.

The internal affairs report was not turned over last year to the attorneys for Thevenin's widow, Cinthia, who in 2016 filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and French. One of her attorneys learned about Centanni's report two months ago from a confidential source and asked the city to turn it over, which it did recently under an order issued by U.S. Magistrate Daniel J. Stewart, who is overseeing the federal case.

Stewart subsequently ordered that the report be unsealed.

Caruso, the city's corporation counsel, issued a statement earlier this month saying Ranalli's review had found Centanni's report to be "fundamentally flawed," but he did not provide any details.

Centanni had recommended French be disciplined for multiple violations of the department's policies.

Owens, the city's police chief, issued a statement two weeks ago saying the department's leadership had "concerns" about Centanni's report that "made it necessary to seek an outside legal expert to conduct an independent analysis" of its findings.

Centanni, citing evidence that included forensic analyses of the vehicles and statements from officers and civilian witnesses at the scene of the 3 a.m. incident, concluded that French violated departmental policies — and the law — by sideswiping and forcing Thevenin's Honda into a concrete barrier on the Collar City Bridge as Thevenin apparently attempted to drive out of the city after fleeing a DWI stop.

The report describes French's decision to allegedly ram Thevenin's vehicle as an "unjustifiable act of deadly physical force."