OFFICER'S FIGHT TO KEEP JOB SPLITS DEPEW COMMUNITY

Joseph Lucarelli once basked in a police hero's glory, after entering a
burning Depew home and crawling on hands and knees to rescue four people,
including a 2-year-old girl and an elderly woman who had fallen from her
wheelchair.

But 101/2 years later, Lucarelli is fighting for his job as a Depew police
officer in a legal and political battle that's dividing the Erie County
village, generating a heated court battle and drawing the wrath of the
district attorney and local police chiefs.

The officer's latest troubles stem from accusations that he tipped off a
drug suspect's family that their son was a target in an undercover
investigation - following the death of a young Depew woman who took the
drug Ecstasy in a Buffalo nightclub three years ago.

Lucarelli, according to a grand jury indictment in June, called the
suspect's mother and suggested she warn her son that he was one of the
investigation's targets.

A State Supreme Court justice dismissed the misdemeanor charges against
Lucarelli in January, but Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark
appealed that decision. Clark said he's confident about the chances for a
successful appeal.

Depew Police Chief James A. Brennan wants to fire Lucarelli, but the
officer, with the reported backing of some village officials, has managed
to keep his job.

That puzzles Clark, given Lucarelli's lengthy disciplinary record.

"I've never run across a similar situation where a police officer has run
afoul of his own department's regulations so many times and been charged
under the penal law and still remained on the job," the district attorney
said. The case has drawn interest outside Depew.

The county Association of Chiefs of Police recently sent a letter to the
Depew mayor, citing the chiefs' concerns that "inappropriate political
interference" was exerting control over the village's disciplinary procedures.

As a result, an officer remains on the job, even though his actions
"threaten the integrity, well-being and professionalism" of the entire
department, the chiefs claimed.

"He's accused of putting in jeopardy a major drug investigation and the
safety and well-being of the police officers involved in it," said Chief
Thomas E. Fowler, from the neighboring Town of Lancaster. "When a chief has
stood out there and done his job to bring an officer like that to the
disciplinary table, it's a shame to see the Village Board not support that."

That's one view.

Longtime Depew village trustee Joseph G. McIntosh, who became mayor two
weeks ago, had a different explanation. "We wanted to see the (criminal)
case go through the court system and then abide by their decision," he said
Friday. "A person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in this country."

McIntosh said he appreciated the police chiefs' position.

"But they're not the judge, jury and executioner all in one," he added.

In a complicated legal case, State Supreme Court Justice Kevin M. Dillon on
Thursday ruled that Brennan could fire Lucarelli, after hearing arguments
about a "Last Chance Agreement" that Lucarelli made with village officials
while facing previous internal charges.

But moments before Dillon handed down his ruling, Lucarelli left the
courtroom, and it remains unclear whether he's being fired.

Weapon Aimed at Boy

Court papers reveal a long list of departmental charges against Lucarelli
dating back to 1996:

In one incident, he responded to a residential burglar alarm one afternoon
in 1997 and confronted a 12-year-old African-American boy on the porch. He
then aimed his weapon at the boy, ordered him to lie on the sidewalk,
threatened to shoot him and had another officer handcuff the youngster,
court papers allege.

As it turned out, the boy lived in the house and accidentally set off the
alarm trying to get inside. Incidents like that led Brennan to try to fire
Lucarelli.

"Quite plainly," Brennan stated in his court affidavit, "it is my opinion
that Lucarelli is a bad cop whose termination is demanded by his own conduct."

Supporters of Lucarelli claim he's the victim of a political grudge between
two strong-willed men, himself and Brennan. Lucarelli's attorney, Terrence
M. Connors, cited his client's strong commitment to police work.

"Joe is well regarded by many of the elected officials in the village of
Depew," Connors said. "Many citizens are supportive of him, and so are his
colleagues in the police department. If he were a bad cop, it would seem
everybody would be running from him."

Lucarelli's case is being played out against a backdrop of Depew politics,
with critics claiming that some Village Board members are protecting the
oft-disciplined officer.

McIntosh denied that claim.

Legal and political battles over Lucarelli's fate led village attorney Paul
D. Weiss to resign recently, although he continued representing Brennan.

"You have a majority of the board who sought to keep Lucarelli on the
police department, either because of personal friendship or political
affiliation," Weiss said Thursday.

Police Chief Faulted

But Lucarelli's supporters have claimed in court papers that Brennan wasn't
above petty politics and that the departmental charges stem largely from
his dislike for both Lucarelli and the officer's family's politics.

Lucarelli was hired as a Depew police officer in March 1990.

His proudest moment on the job probably came on Nov. 7, 1991, when he and
three other officers broke down a side door to enter a burning home before
firefighters arrived.

Wearing no air packs or other protective equipment, Lucarelli and his three
colleagues crawled on their hands and knees about 25 to 30 feet through
blinding smoke. Guided only by the trapped residents' screams, the officers
carried or dragged all four occupants to safety.

"My boys put their lives on the line to save these people," then-police
Chief John Maccarone said at the time. "It brings tears to my eyes."

But a few years later, after Brennan took over as police chief, Lucarelli
began to accumulate oral and written reprimands.

Court records show that Lucarelli received nine departmental reprimands,
starting in 1995, for various accusations, including calling in sick to run
in a race, leaving the village while on duty to visit a friend, working
off-duty at a bar without permission, engaging in conduct unbecoming an
officer and disobeying orders.

His record includes several detailed accusations in late 1997, in addition
to the incident on the porch:

* In September 1997, he's accused of stopping two individuals in a truck,
calling them drug dealers and several profane names, striking one of them
in the back of the legs, charging the driver with DWI, failing to perform a
breath test, then signing a document saying he was the breath-test operator.

* In October 1997, he's accused of failing to question a racially-mixed
couple whose car was struck in the rear, then erroneously concluding that
the black driver in the front vehicle was at fault.

But the most serious accusations surfaced in the June 1999 incident,
shortly after Lucarelli returned to active duty.

A No-Nonsense Person

Lucarelli was working at the police dispatch desk when he learned that a
young man's name came up in the investigation of Ecstasy sales, according
to court papers. The officer was accused of calling the young man's mother
later on his cell phone, suggesting that she tell him to stop working at
the place where the drug was sold.

That incident especially has drawn the ire of local police chiefs, who
question why Brennan hasn't been allowed to fire Lucarelli. The officer has
been suspended twice, in 1998 and 2001, then placed on lengthy
administrative leave each time after his 30-day suspension expired.

As Lucarelli fought for his job amid courtroom arguments last week, Brennan
sat quietly in the back of the courtroom, apparently resolute in his desire
to fire Lucarelli.

"He's a hard-nosed, no-nonsense, unforgiving person," one fellow police
official said admiringly of Brennan. "He's a tough guy."