Suspended Police Chief Denies Departmental Charges

Greece, N.Y.) - Suspended Police Chief Merritt Rahn is denying departmental charges against him by the Town of Greece. The charges, not criminal, are the result of an internal investigation into how he handled the cases of two former officers.The internal charges accuse Rahn of violating police department rules and regulations. In a response filed Tuesday, the suspended chief denies all allegations.Many of them have to do with how he handled investigations of two former officers, Nick Joseph and Gary Pignato. Both were recently convicted on separate charges.The departmental charges include: Incompetence, failing to discharge duties, covering up crimes, and destroying evidence in the case of former officer Nick Joseph.The investigation found that Rahn downplayed the seriousness of the accident that seriously injured a pregnant woman.It found he refused to conduct an internal investigation of that crash. It also found that he changed an accident report and didn't immediately investigate when Joseph called him a day after the accident to tell him what happened.The investigation found that Rahn, instead, told Joseph to call him back when he remembered where the accident happened.Joseph was convicted of being on cocaine and leaving the scene of that accident.There are also departmental charges related to the shredding of documents at the police department on April 25, which is what led to the suspension of Rahn and two other top officers.Rahn's attorney faxed us a copy of his response to the charges. In it, he denies all charges and says the suspension was without good cause, saying there is no proof Rahn shredded anything.