Schenectady police officer loses license in drunken driving case

Suspended Schenectady police Sgt. William Fennell saw his driver’s license officially revoked Tuesday as a hearing officer found enough evidence to determine that he refused a breath test in a drunken driving case.

Fennell, 38, appeared Tuesday at a hearing conducted by the state Department of Motor Vehicles after he was charged with refusing a breath test last month.

Fennell is accused of crashing into another motorist Nov. 6 in the town of Bethlehem, fleeing the scene, then running off the road and crashing his car.

At issue Tuesday was whether a license suspension that took effect upon his arraignment last week would turn into an official license revocation — the penalty under state law for refusing to take a breath test.

Administrative Law Judge Gary Lane found that Bethlehem police met each of the requirements under state statute and that Fennell had refused the test. The ruling meant that Fennell’s license was immediately revoked for the period of one year, regardless of the outcome of his underlying driving while intoxicated case.

It also means that he will not return to the Schenectady Police Department’s payroll pending the outcome of the internal investigation against him.

Suspended officers generally return to the payroll after 30 days while their internal case proceeds. Without a license, though, Fennell no longer meets the basic requirements to work, Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett said later Tuesday. So he will remain suspended without pay as the internal case proceeds, until he can produce a valid license, Bennett said.

Mayor-elect 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.

Tuesday’s hearing at the Department of Motor Vehicles offices on South Pearl Street included testimony from the first officer to encounter Fennell, Bethlehem officer James Cross.

Cross testified while sitting on one side of a small table, while Fennell and his attorney Kevin O’Brien sat on the other side, Fennell directly across from Cross.

Through much of the hearing, Fennell sat looking down, with his hands clasped on the table.

Cross’s testimony revealed previously undisclosed details on the incident, including that Fennell rear-ended the other vehicle twice and that Cross believed Fennell was trying to elude apprehension by speeding away.

Cross also testified that the pursuit made him sufficiently concerned for his own safety, not knowing why the driver had fled, that he had his hand on his service weapon as he approached Fennell’s crashed car.

That concern apparently subsided as Cross opened Fennell’s car door. Cross immediately recognized the driver as Fennell, someone he had worked with in the past and seen in the community. Fennell was uninjured and did not struggle.

Later in the hearing, Cross used his interactions and observations of Fennell on those previous occasions to help bolster his conclusion that he was intoxicated that day.

Cross testified that he smelled alcohol as soon as the car door opened. Inside the car was an unopened bottle of Jack Daniels. Fennell’s eyes were glassy, his face was red and he was unsteady at points. He also gave no response or little response to Cross’ basic questions.

Fennell did indicate, though, that he hadn’t been drinking, Cross testified.

He placed Fennell in the back of his patrol car and shut the door to wait for additional officers.

Fennell’s attorney, Kevin O’Brien, later tried to use that to argue that Fennell was taken into custody at that point and that Cross hadn’t had enough cause yet to do so. If the administrative law judge agreed, Fennell could have conceivably won the hearing, and his license, on a technicality.

Lane, though, found that Cross was only securing the scene after a pursuit. Department policy required that further sobriety tests be offered only with a second officer present. Also, Fennell was not in handcuffs while in the back of the patrol car.

Regarding the tests themselves, Cross testified that with the second officer on the scene, Fennell refused two field sobriety tests and an on-scene breath test.

At the station, Fennell also refused a more comprehensive breath test. Cross read a standard warning three times. Fennell refused all three times, the second time saying “no, sorry,” Cross testified.

Fennell is an 11-year veteran of the Schenectady Police Department. The 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. He had come in around 3:45 p.m. to pick up an order and appeared intoxicated, Bethlehem police said.

Cross, responding to that call, 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.

Cross testified that the accident he witnessed was actually the second collision Fennell had with the same vehicle. The other driver indicated later that Fennell rear-ended the vehicle, then apparently backed up and hit it again.

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

Cross checked on the other driver and then took off after Fennell at high speed, ultimately finding him on Beaver Dam Road, where his car ran across a lawn and crashed into a tree.

Categories: Uncategorized