The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Attorney: Newtown cop ‘terminated based on disability’
NEWTOWN — A 32-year veteran police officer who was among the first to respond to the Sandy Hook massacre has been “terminated based on disability” by the town’s Police Commission, according to the union’s attorney.
Lt. Aaron Bahamonde, 51, whose promotion in 2017 was hailed by then-Police Chief James Viadero as part of “a new beginning for this agency, culminating in what is expected to be a legacy of strong leadership,” was terminated last week, a police union lawyer confirmed on Monday.
“Aaron is eligible for full retirement benefits and he is going to get full retirement benefits,” labor attorney Eric Brown said Monday.
Brown would not comment further on Bahamonde’s release or the nature of his disability, except to say the union had filed a grievance with the town “about whether or not he is eligible for disability insurance benefits.”
Bahamonde was the department’s public information officer in the years immediately following the massacre of 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. He was among the first police officers to enter the building, where 20-year-old gunman Adam Lanza ended the rampage by shooting himself.
In those years, Newtown was very much in the national spotlight — media attention, which added stress to the lives of some trying cope with the crime, a study showed.
“I would just like to thank the town of Newtown and especially my brother and sister officers at the police department, where I served next to some of the best and bravest men and women officers I have ever met,” Bahamonde told Hearst Connecticut Media on Monday. “[M]y mind and heart goes out to those officers that will carry on today, in a professional manner, in the face of challenges of police work in this new era.”
Bahamonde declined to comment on the nature of his grievance or the specifics of his disability because the matter is still open.
“[I]t is unfortunate, I was denied contractual sick time benefits by the town for my current disability that occurred while out on medical leave,” Bahamonde said “The union’s grievance procedure will run its course through the state labor board and the union is confident it will all work out in the end once contract language is litigated.”
The town’s top elected leader said he was barred from commenting on an open personnel issue.
“Grievances are not public until they are settled,” First Selectman Dan Rosenthal said.
Rosenthal along with Brown and Police Chief David Kullgren were part of a closed-door discussion about Bahamonde during
a special meeting of the Police Commission on May 18. After a 90-minute discussion, the Police Commission returned to the public forum and voted unanimously to “terminate (the) employee immediately,” according to the meeting minutes.
Joel Faxon, chairman of the Police Commission, would only say that a written decision would be released “shortly.”
Bahamonde was promoted to lieutenant in 2017 when the department also promoted Liam Seagrook to sergeant and Chris Vanghele to captain.
“This occasion marks a milestone for the Newtown Police Department — never before has this agency undergone such a dramatic change to its command /supervisory staff,” then-chief Viadero said. “These promotions represent a new beginning for this agency.”
On Monday Bahamonde was looking forward to a new beginning himself.
“I will now go on to enjoy my retirement,” he said.