Sag Harbor Village Police Chief Suspended for Alleged Misconduct

Sag Harbor Village Police Chief Austin J. McGuire was suspended without pay for 30 days after the village mayor accused the chief of drinking on the job, dereliction of duty and insubordination.

Sag Harbor Mayor Thomas Gardella filed 32 disciplinary charges of misconduct and incompetence against the chief, who has been on leave for months. The village board voted on Friday, December 1 to suspend the chief upon filing of the disciplinary charges.

McGuire faces termination if he is convicted following a hearing in the coming days.

“You conducted yourself in a manner that brought discredit to the Sag Harbor Village Police Department,” charging documents that the village shared with Dan’s Papers stated. “Your conduct was insubordinate, unbecoming, disrespectful, and unprofessional.”

The charges come after the Southold Town Police Chief and three officers were recently disciplined for failing to act on complaints about a police retirement party violating social distancing mandates at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In McGuire’s case, the chief was accused of drinking in public while on duty despite previously being warned about such behavior, driving his police vehicle while intoxicated, repeatedly yelling in public “fuck Jim Larocca” — the former mayor — speaking inappropriately to the family member of a crime victim and urging officers not to respond to a report of a disturbance at a local restaurant.

He was also accused of hiring an outside consultant without approval of the village board, creating a hostile work environment, inappropriately touching a village employee and causing multiple officers to either leave or contemplate leaving, the charges state.

McGuire could not be reached for comment.