Suspended Clarkstown Police Chief defends his record as he goes to Federal Court to try and get back on the job. Sarah Wallace reports.
An embattled upstate police chief who oversaw a controversial intelligence unit accused of illegally surveying activist groups was denied his bid to get back in uniform Tuesday.
Clarkstown Police Chief Michael Sullivan was suspended for his alleged misconduct, but still receives his $271,000 salary.
A federal judge on Tuesday denied Sullivan's emergency motion filed to end his suspension.
The chief's supervision of an intelligence unit, a joint venture with the Rockland County DA, is now under fire by an independent special prosecutor who alleges the unit engaged in unlawful surveillance, including the racial profiling of black community groups.
Sullivan denies the allegations.
"There was no unlawful surveillance of anybody," he told NBC 4 New York Tuesday. "What I really believe happened here is they looked at half the picture...They didn't do their homework."
But the special prosecutor hired by the Clarkstown town board is only expanding his investigation.
Local
The prosecutor said there is now a forensic investigation into alleged computer tampering by the former head of the intelligence unit, Stephen Cole-Hatcher.
Hatcher was suspended last week and then retired. He denies any wrongdoing.
