Mount Vernon officer costs city $937,000

Brutality suits name Mount Vernon officer

Mar 16, 2013 | 3 Comments

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Sgt. Michael Marcucilli has been named in multiple police brutality cases involving the Mount Vernon Police Department. Facebook photo

Written by Jonathan Bandler

Mount Vernon has shelled out more than $930,000 in verdicts, settlements and legal fees for police brutality cases involving a sergeant who has remained on desk duty for four years after allegedly striking a 12-year-old in the head with a baton, a review of city and court records shows. Three federal lawsuits since 2008 have named Sgt. Michael Marcucilli, including two in which juries found he used excessive force. And the plaintiff in a fourth case that does not name the sergeant insists it was Marcucilli who beat him up

outside a city nightclub in 2008 but that police crafted reports to hide Marcucillis involvement because he had been accused in similar cases. The citys legal department said Friday that police officials and the citys outside labor counsel will proceed with an internal investigation into his conduct and the need for disciplinary action. Sgt. Marcucilli remains on a modified assignment. Marcucillis continued employment has become symbolic of what critics call a lack of accountability in the department, particularly in the wake of Mayor Ernest Davis firing of Police Commissioner Carl Bell last month. Its terrible. It sends a message ... to police officers that they can get away with anything, said Damon Jones, a county correction officer who is president of the Westchester chapter of Blacks in Law Enforcement. He shouldnt have a job anymore and hes going to end up getting a pension. Were going to be paying for his retirement, and hell be laughing all the way to the bank. Marcucilli declined to speak with The Journal News. Sgt. Gregory Addison, president of the Mount Vernon Police Association, would not discuss specific details of Marcucillis employment but said that, to his knowledge, Marcucilli had never faced a departmental trial or been charged with any departmental violations. And he suggested that verdicts in lawsuits should not determine whether officers are disciplined by their departments. My primary concern is were trying the case in the media, Addison said. (Police) are not guilty until theyre found guilty (in departmental trials). Marcucilli, whose annual salary is $100,021, may have taken a financial hit as a result of the modified assignment. Beginning in 2006 his overtime pay jumped significantly, to nearly $30,000 that year and more than $34,000 in each of the next two years. But that figure was down to $7,300 in 2009, and he got just $5,200 in overtime from 2010 through last year. When the Da Costa case went to trial in November, jurors were not supposed to hear about the other cases of excessive force. But they did learn of the verdicts though no details because the sergeant and Mount Vernon corporation counsel Nichelle Johnson opened the door.

Marcucilli testified that neither of the officers hit or kicked Da Costa, and he opined that both acted properly in using the minimal force necessary to take him into custody. I think the jury is entitled to know that (Marcucillis) judgment on (use of force) may not be worth the paper its printed on, U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel told the lawyers in allowing the jury to hear of the earlier cases. Following his testimony and Johnsons closing argument, the two sides reached a settlement and Da Costa was paid $27,500, even though he had no other eyewitnesses and had pleaded guilty in the criminal case. The city also paid $31,000 for lawyers who represented other cops in the Allen case and $22,500 to settle claims of Robert Lightfoot Jr., one of the other kids with Allen at the school who was bit by a Yonkers police dog. That makes the total the city has paid out in cases involving Marcucilli $937,000. Frank Young, Weathers lawyer, also represents Michael Anderson, who claims he was beaten during an Aug. 30, 2008, arrest. The lawsuit initially did not name any officers, but after a review of police reports, Officer Sean Blute was added as a defendant. Last year, Young tried unsuccessfully to reopen depositions and possibly name Marcucilli as a defendant after Andersons sister, a retired Mount Vernon cop, said she heard Marcucilli was her brothers assailant and that police had altered the incident reports to make it look like Blute was the only one who had contact with her brother. When Young asked his client about that, Anderson told him it was Marcucilli who hit him. I think it's very dangerous, Young said of the sergeants continued presence on the job. The only explanation, other than that the Mount Vernon Police Department is even worse than I thought, is that there are union issues. He doesnt want to go and they cant fire him.