NEW ROCHELLE, NY (September 1, 2023) — New Rochelle Police Detective Michael Vaccaro, 39, an 18-year NRPD veteran was terminated today by Police Commissioner Robert Gazzola following a disciplinary hearing process that dragged on for about a year.
Vaccaro has been suspended since February 2021, with pay but pay was discontinued in February 2023 as Vaccaro made repeated requests for adjournments
Vaccaro, a 16-year veteran at the time, was suspended following a violent incident on February 15, 2021 while he was off-duty. He was recorded on a mobile phone, punching and kicking Malik Fogg, a black man, Vaccaro is white.
At the time of his suspension, Vaccaro had one of the worst disciplinary records in the New Rochelle Police Department with 17 sustained violations in 16 years, edging out NRPD officer Alec McKenna for 2nd place.
The incident occurred 8 months after the officer-involved shooting of Kamal Flowers, a 24-year-old black man, who was killed by McKenna.
Within weeks the matter was referred to the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office by the New Rochelle Police Department. Vaccaro was formerly charged with two counts of Attempted Assault in the 3rd Degree, both misdemeanors in connection, with a road rage incident on February 15. He was arraigned before Judge Jared R. Rice on July 1, 2021.
Vaccaro was acquitted on both counts of Attempted Assault in the Third Degree following a four-day bench trial presided over by Judge Matthew J. Costa in July 2022.
The case is now sealed but the details of the trial is linked below.
There remains a pending federal lawsuit brought by Malik Fogg against the City of New Rochelle, New Rochelle Police Department, Joseph Schaller, Michael Vaccaro, Matthew Velasco, Scott Wallach and Melvin Molina.
Vaccaro had repeatedly sought delays in the police disciplinary process.
The New Rochelle Police Department Police Disciplinary Hearings for Michael Vaccaro were originally scheduled for September 2022, then pushed back to November 2022, then adjourned to December 19, 2022 with adjourn dates on January 10 and January 17, 2023. A hearing was held on December 19, 2022.
Further delays were granted at Vaccaro in January 2023 with the provision that Vaccaro would be removed from paid administrative leave. A hearing date was scheduled for March 20, 2023. A hearing was held on March 20, 2023.
An online fundraiser was posted to benefit Vaccaro by an anonymous person on April 3, 2023 with a goal of raising $25,000.
As of today, almost four months later, 83 donors, many of them PBA Members, contributed a total of $9,106. After an initial flurry, fundraising has dried up with donations mostly occurring in the first few weeks of the campaign with the last donation made in May 2023.
The disciplinary hearing for Vaccaro was completed on May 10, 2023. Post-hearing briefs were due three weeks after receipt of the final transcript. The Hearing Officer was initially expected to render a decision within around 60 days or before mid-July but the decision was delayed until late August.
Police disciplinary hearings are rare in New Rochelle as most cases are settled with a stipulation agreement which includes an admission of guilt and a negotiated disciplinary action. In the rare instance when a case goes to a hearing, the decision on whether the hearing is open to the public rests with the accused officer. A public disciplinary hearing is almost unheard of in New Rochelle.
In recent memory, only one disciplinary was open to the public. In 2021, Sergeant Kimberly Diniz completed two days of hearings before choosing to resign from the New Rochelle Police Department before a decision was made. Talk of the Sound attended both days of the hearing.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Robert Cox is the only member of the press to ever sit in on a New Rochelle Police Department disciplinary hearing, according to New Rochelle Police Department officials.
RELATED:
NRPD Termination Hearing for Police Brutality Cop Gets Underway in New Rochelle
Michael Vaccaro – Malik Fogg Archive
Links to Past Michael Vacarro – Malik Fogg Related Stories + Records, Videos, Audios, etc. that is regularly updated as new developments occur.
EDITOR’S NOTE: we had predicted Vaccaro would not be fired: Why Michael Vaccaro Will Not Be Fired for Punching Malik Fogg in the Head
Obviously, I am no fan of Michael Vaccaro but as the only person in New Rochelle who attended every court appearance by Michael Vaccaro and attended every day of the trial and watched Andrew Quinn masterfully slice and dice every element of the District Attorney’s case against Vaccaro including a frame-by-frame dissection of the cell phone video AND has sat in on New Rochelle Police Department termination hearings AND has listened to audio recordings of NRPD Internal Affairs interviews of officers facing disciplinary charges AND read through hundreds of Internal Affairs complaints going back decades, I see no reason whatsoever to believe that Michael Vaccaro will ever be terminated by the New Rochelle Police Department for the Malik Fogg incident.
None.