2nd police official resigns after racist e-mails
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The racist e-mails that forced a New York town's police chief into retirement may have claimed a second career.
Pelham Manor Police Chief Alfred Mosiello announced his retirement earlier this month after racist e-mails that he shared with fellow officers came to light.
Lt. David Donahue, Mosiello's heir apparent, recently filed for retirement and will leave the department at the end of the month.
Donahue had reportedly been among the officers in the department who received the e-mails Mosiello forwarded. Four of the emails were shared with The Journal News last week but the recipients' e-mail addresses were redacted.
Donahue declined to comment, citing a directive by Village Manager John Pierpont that all media queries be addressed to his office.
A longtime village resident, Donahue, 57, joined the department in 1984. He was promoted to sergeant in 1997 and to lieutenant in January 2007 when Mosiello became chief.
Mayor Bertrand Sellier said it was his understanding that Donahue had received the e-mails — which were sent between 2010 and 2012 — but had not forwarded them himself.
He and Pierpont said the board was working on who would succeed the chief and the lieutenant.
"I know that the village will make the necessary decisions to run the department effectively and efficiently," Pierpont said.
Whoever gets the job would have the task of stabilizing a department that's been in turmoil for the past month.
After being shown the e-mails in December, the board suspended Mosiello for two weeks in January and docked him 25 vacation days — a financial hit of more than $25,000. They did not move to fire him, though, citing his accepting responsibility and the money it would cost to pursue termination.
But after some of the e-mails were leaked last week, Mosiello wrote to the board on Friday and indicated that the controversy made remaining in the department "impossible." That was his last day of work and his retirement becomes official March 1.