By:Nick Buglione
Finnegan was first arrested on Aug. 17, 2003, after he allegedly placed a number of harassing phone calls to his girlfriend, Jaime Marino. He was picked up again almost two months later for allegedly violating a court order that forbade him to contact her. Charged with second-degree aggravated harassment, he was later suspended for one year from the fire department, which effectively cost him his position as first assistant chief.
Last June, however, Finnegan was cleared of all charges, and now he claims the department should have suspended him only if he had been convicted. He believes his civil rights have been violated, and is in the process of filing a lawsuit against the fire department.
He is also thinking about running for a seat on the board of fire commissioners later this month, though he said he would decide against it if it would jeopardize his lawsuit.
My belief is I should have never been suspended, said Finnegan, 41, a lifelong East Meadow resident and a volunteer with the fire department for 12 years. If the charges were thrown out in court, what grounds would the fire district be able to hold over my head?
After he was arrested, Finnegan said, the five-member board of fire commissioners, the department-s governing body, recommended that he take medical leave while he worked out his legal troubles. Once news of his arrest appeared in the Herald, though, the board suspended him, Finnegan claims.
Threatened with dismissal if he didn-t acquiesce to the suspension, Finnegan said he had no choice but to accept the board-s judgment. They felt if it didn-t hit the newspaper, they could stay on the course they were on, Finnegan said. When the first article came out in the newspaper, that-s when they dropped the hammer.
The suspension, which ran from October 2003 to October 2004, prevented Finnegan from running for re-election as fire chief. A person is innocent until proven guilty, he said. I should be given my position back.
Finnegan claims he was unfairly targeted because people in the fire department and the board of fire commissioners have it in for him.
As a member of Ladder 1, Finnegan quickly rose up through the ranks, becoming a lieutenant and later a captain. From there he served as third, second and first assistant chief, and was on his way to becoming the head of the department. His disciplinarian attitude, however, alienated him from some of the other firefighters, Finnegan said.
Joe Frank, attorney for the board of fire commissioners, said the board had every right to suspend Finnegan, regardless of his case-s outcome in court. What happens at the fire department level and what happens at the court level are two different issues, Frank said. If disciplinary action is brought against a [firefighter], the board of fire commissioners determines how those are taken care of. Whatever action that takes place in the courtroom doesn-t impact the decision of the board of fire commissioners.
Frank added that the action against Finnegan was not personally motivated, and that it is common for volunteers to cry foul when disciplinary action is taken against them. Frank also questioned why, having been cleared of the charges and served his suspension, Finnegan is now making an issue of this. This whole thing was resolved a year ago, Frank said. I just don-t understand what he expects us to say.
Comments about this story? NBuglione@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
