Yonkers cop fired for warrant that led to fatal raid

Yonkers police Officer Neil Vera was fired by the police commissioner Tuesday following an internal investigation into his role in the falsification of a search warrant for a School Street apartment where the tenant fell out a window and died during a police raid.

The officer has 10 days to appeal the decision to Mayor Michael Spano. If the mayor upholds the firing, the Yonkers Police Benevolent Association could seek arbitration.

Vera and Detective Christian Koch were suspended in October after a grand jury indicted them on perjury and official misconduct charges related to the bad search warrant.

"The Yonkers Police Department treats all allegations of misconduct against members of our department very seriously and our officers are held to the highest standard," Police Commissioner Charles Gardner said in a statement. "After careful review and consideration of the facts and circumstances surrounding the criminal and internal investigation of police Officer Neil Vera, he has been terminated from the department effective immediately."

Gardner would not comment further, citing the ongoing internal investigation and criminal prosecution.

Vera was assigned to the Police Department's Housing Unit but is accused of going rogue in February, providing money for drug purchases at a third-floor apartment at 141 School St. But instead of conducting controlled buys in which he carefully monitored one person purchasing cocaine, prosecutors said Vera gave money to one person who gave it to another and was not in a position to confirm whether the drug activity actually occurred.

He took his information to a narcotics detective, Koch, who obtained a search warrant for the apartment on March 21. When police entered the apartment, tenant Dario Tena went out the window, falling nearly 40 feet to the backyard. He landed on his head and was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital a short time later.

In his sworn affidavit, Koch identified the target of the probe as a Richie Polanco and indicated that controlled buys were made using a confidential informant. But investigators determined that Polanco had not lived in the apartment in years and that the informant had not even spoken with police because he was in prison in another state.

To cover up his actions, prosecutors said Vera had another informant lie to investigators that he had made controlled buys at the apartment for the officer.

Vera, who was a trustee with the Yonkers PBA, was initially hired in 2007. He was fired a few months later but then rehired in 2008.

Detective Keith Olson, the Yonkers PBA president, said the commissioner's determination would be appealed.

"We have a collective bargaining process and we plan to utilize it," said Olson. "Neil Vera is innocent until proven guilty and like any officer he is afforded and deserves due process."

Twitter: @jonbandler