The president of the Lawrence Patrolmen’s Union, Detective Paul MacMillan, is suspended after trying to reach the Dominican mayor’s office Brian DePeña without having an appointment. With this, there are three police officers who have been placed on leave since the end of August.
According to a spokesman for the mayor, the action of the union president last Thursday in the city hall offices was assumed “as a result of a threatening incident”, however, union sources assure that statements about DePeña and his administration had triggered the suspension. from Macmillan.
MacMillan “has been placed on administrative leave until further notice. This was in direct reaction to a recent statement made to the media,” according to an email from Salman Dar, the union’s vice president who has taken over as interim president.
Dar added that MacMillan “is also charged with misconduct for a verbal interaction that took place last Thursday at City Hall with a member of staff that instigated the result.”
For his part, the union’s lawyer assured that for him “it was not clear” the reason for the suspension of the leader of the Lawrence patrol cars.
However, Jhovanny Martes, DePeña’s chief of staff, said that the official “was demanding to meet with the mayor immediately without an appointment” to justify the leave of the unionist, who assured that he had communicated with the official and would have stated that he not enter, “then he would go to the mayor’s house,” according to the city council’s statement, which was taken as a threat.
“As a result of this incident threateningthe officer has been placed on paid administrative leave, pending an investigation,” concludes the statement issued Tuesday by the mayor’s office.
MacMillan joins two other police officers who have been furloughed in recent weeks, though for different reasons.
The first of them was Maurice Aguiler, who also received paid administrative leave after attending the “Dominicanismo” event on August 25 at Lawrence Elks, which DePeña also attended. Aguiler was charged with “recent off-duty noncriminal behavior.”
The action against Aguiler was “political in nature” and “a diversion to the administration,” according to MacMillan’s statements.
“The captain had his gun, badge and cruiser removed due to an off-duty incident. He was not acting as a police officer in any capacity,” he said.
The president of the patrolmen’s union assured that DePeña, despite being notified of the accusations of possible criminal activities by some members of the police and that he is the subject of an external investigation, has not placed anyone on paid administrative leave.
“So now we’re looking at an LPD official who has his name dragged through the mud for something the mayor has already deemed off-duty and non-criminal activity. The mayor should be fielding questions about the real matter before him.”President of the Lawrence Patrolmen’s Union
The second case corresponds to Detective Shaun McLellan, 51, who was suspended for an incident in Salem, New Hampshire, in which he was arrested for domestic battery, according to the statement issued by the Lawrence Police Department.
Although the city is conducting independent investigations into the incidents involving officers Aguiler, McLellan and MacMillan, it is unknown who is leading the investigations, says a US media.