Schenectady police sergeant denies DWI charge

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

A suspended Schenectady police sergeant formally pleaded not guilty Tuesday evening to drunken driving and other charges.

Sgt. William Fennell also turned in his driver’s license to begin a license suspension prompted by allegations that he refused a breath test at the time of his arrest.

Fennell was arrested Nov. 6, accused of crashing his car twice, driving drunk and leaving the scene of an accident, as well as refusing the breath test.

Fennell appeared at the arraignment with his attorney Kevin O’Brien. The court appearance was Fennell’s first since his Nov. 6 arrest.

Town Justice Ryan Donovan continued Fennell’s release on his own recognizance. He also asked Fennell to turn over his driver’s license, which Fennell did.

“You understand that you no longer have the right to drive in the state of New York?” he asked Fennell.

“Yes, sir,” Fennell responded.

“We’ll see how it plays out,” O’Brien told The Daily Gazette afterward. “I think there are a lot of factors that people don’t know about.”

Donovan also scheduled a hearing for next week with the Department of Motor Vehicles. At that hearing, the state will decide if the circumstances meet the criteria for an automatic continued license suspension.

The license suspension question is important for Fennell as Schenectady police must have a license to work, so he cannot draw a paycheck as long as his license is suspended.

Fennell has been suspended without pay since his arrest. Generally, suspended officers return to the payroll after 30 days if the issue that led to their suspension hasn’t been resolved. That 30-day mark for Fennell comes Dec. 11.

But Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett confirmed Tuesday that Fennell won’t be paid until he gets his license back.

“Until he can show he has a valid license,” Bennett said, “he cannot perform the duties of a police officer and thus we don’t pay him.”

Acting Mayor Gary McCarthy has also indicated that the allegations, including leaving the scene of an accident and refusing the breath test, mean that Fennell may be terminated.

Fennell is an 11-year veteran of the force. The 39-year-old Selkirk resident was one of three officers to open fire in August on a man police said had a gun. They fired a total of 14 shots, killing Luis Rivera, 33. Authorities have said the shooting appeared to be justified under department policies.

Bethlehem police were first alerted to Fennell the day of his arrest by an employee at KT’s Barnside Eatery on Route 9W.

Fennell had come in around 3:45 p.m. to pick up an order and appeared intoxicated, Bethlehem police said.

The Bethlehem officer responding to that call then witnessed the first accident, as Fennell rear-ended a car at the intersection of routes 9W and 396, police said, only a few hundred yards from the restaurant.

The officer also watched as Fennell backed up, drove around the vehicle he’d just rear-ended and fled west down Route 396.

The officer checked on the other driver and then took off after Fennell, police said. He soon found Fennell on Beaver Dam Road, where his car had crashed into a tree.

Fennell was arrested at the scene. He later refused to take a breath test at the Bethlehem police station, police said.

The driver of the other vehicle was not injured, and damage to that car was described as minor.