Fired Middletown officer’s pension OK’d despite mayor’s objection Last of 3 ex-cops gets retirement despite mayor’s protest

In this photo from January 2010, Middletown Police Lt. Christoper Lavoie is promoted by former Mayor Sebastian N. Giuliano to sergeant at a swearing-in ceremony at city hall. In this photo from January 2010, Middletown Police Lt. Christoper Lavoie is promoted by former Mayor Sebastian N. Giuliano to sergeant at a swearing-in ceremony at city hall. Photo: File Photo Photo: File Photo Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Fired Middletown officer’s pension OK’d despite mayor’s objection 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

MIDDLETOWN >> In a special meeting held Jan. 16, the Pension and Retirement Board voted five to one to grant a disability pension to former police officer Christopher Lavoie, the third police officer fired last year to come before the board.

The sole dissenting vote was cast by Mayor Daniel Drew, who criticized Lavoie and two other officers for what he said was their rush to claim disabilities after the officers knew their jobs were on the line, a claim Lavoie and the others denied.

Drew also said board members had engaged in “doctor shopping,” by requesting additional medical exams for Lavoie until they received results that established his disability. Board members denied the allegation.

Lavoie applied for disability for a back injury he said was acquired on the job.

Following the board’s decision, Lavoie said he was “tired” of the public comments by the mayor designed to “destroy” his name.

“I signed over all my medical records when they asked me to and I haven’t ducked anything they wanted of me,” he said.

“I had almost two decades on the job with zero discipline, I was honorably discharged from the Marines after four years of active service, I made sergeant in about seven years and made lieutenant in around 10 years on the job,” Lavoie said.

Lavoie was fired in February after 16 years on the force, for allegedly failing to abide by a “last chance” agreement he signed in May 2013 in order to remain employed by the city, measures he said were retaliatory.

Partial records from Lavoie’s personnel file showed commendations as well as a written warning in February 2009 for a fender-bender with another police vehicle, the third such accident in as many years.

But in 2012, Lavoie became the subject of an internal affairs investigation, records of which have only partially been made public, and a year later was demoted from lieutenant to patrolman.

In his letter of dismissal dated Feb 7, the mayor wrote that Lavoie had gone absent without leave, improperly failed to report for duty, broke city rules on absences and his collective bargaining agreement.

Lavoie told the Press that, sometime in the summer of 2012, he and other officers had been talking at the front desk of the police department, and the topic had turned to William McKenna, now chief of police, and some possibly illegal behavior he had allegedly been involved in off-duty.

Lavoie said that word got around to Police Chief William McKenna.

“I think once that conversation took place, I was targeted and singled out and treated unfairly,” he said in February in response to his firing. “To that point, I had never been written up, had never had any type of suspensions — no alleged misconduct, no nothing.”

Last July, after allegations surfaced that the chief solicited prescription narcotics and a subsequent independent 10-month probe, McKenna was cleared of all charges, Drew announced in a press conference.

Lavoie said that, at a time when he had been prescribed narcotic painkillers, the chief had asked him for pills and, on one occasion, Lavoie had obliged.

Former Officer Gino Pulvirenti, who had been fired a month before Lavoie, was also involved in the allegations against the chief. The city fired Pulvirenti for worker’s compensation fraud but he was granted a disability pension about two months ago. Pulvirenti injured his knee while on duty.

McKenna had emphatically denied the allegations by the officers and had requested that the city investigate him. The city hired former federal prosecutors from Hartford law firm Cowdery & Murphy, with the investigation concluding there was not a preponderance of evidence that McKenna was engaged in illicit drug use.

According to the Cornell University Law School’s Legal Information Institute, a preponderance of evidence is “a requirement that more than 50 percent of the evidence points to something. This is the burden of proof in a civil trial.”

Meanwhile, Lavoie was repeatedly disciplined by Capt. Patrick Howard and Deputy Chief Michael Timbro for violations such as misuse of sick time, an unauthorized absence, and making improper calls on the department’s Telestaff system.

Drew wrote in Lavoie’s termination letter that Lavoie’s claims of retaliation were baseless.

Lavoie said he’s offered to take a polygraph test ever since he made the allegations in 2012.

The mayor said the officers fired were fired because they had done something wrong and he favors reforming the system that allowed retroactive disability claims.

“I think it is wrong to give a retroactive disability pension for terminated employee,” he said. “I believe the claims of these officers were dubious at best,” he said, referring to Lavoie, Pulvirenti and a third terminated officer whose application was denied by the board, Francesca Quaranta.

Board member and city councilor Hope Kasper denied the board had engaged in “doctor shopping,” but had requested additional medical exams because the city had departed from its prior practice of sending only medical records to examining physicians and instead sent Lavoie’s entire personnel record.

Kasper and board member Sandra Russo-Driska both said their decision was based on independent medical evaluations and information provided to the board that met requirements under city ordinance for granting a disability pension.

Lavoie is entitled to a pension rate of 66 and 2/3 of his base salary, as opposed to 50 percent under a regular police pension. The exact amount he will receive each year was not yet formulated by the payroll department.

McKenna did not respond to a request for comment.