City Council Fires Police Officer

Bethlehem City Council voted 6-0 to fire suspended city Police Officer John Nye for lying to superiors during an internal investigation of his own conduct and disobeying orders.

Council's decision Tuesday came following three nights of hearings in which it heard testimony from officers involved in that investigation and Nye himself. Police Commissioner Stuart Bedics argued for Nye's termination with the backing of Mayor John Callahan.

On Wednesday night, council will begin a new hearing to decide whether to fire Police Officer Michael Lenner, who is accused of destroying evidence relevant to Nye's case.

"Obviously, nobody wanted to be in this situation," Bedics said, following council's vote. "The fact that we had to terminate one of our officers in my first year as commissioner is nothing I could have ever imagined. I do believe council made the right decision."

Despite the decision to fire Nye, who was seated in the council gallery next to his attorney, John Waldron, two council members offered the terminated officer words of encouragement and praise.

"I was very impressed with Officer Nye and I think he deserves a second chance, but not with the Bethlehem Police," said Councilman Gordon Mowrer, who offered to write a recommendation for Nye and help him find a new job.

"I want to thank Officer Nye for his openness and forthrightness in sharing with us some of the difficulties of being a police officer," said Councilwoman Karen Dolan. "We came here with open minds. We came to our conclusions based on evidence and fact."

Councilwoman Jean Belinski cast no vote on this issue because she had missed one of the three hearings leading to the decision.

Nye did not wish to comment after the decision. A decorated Marine veteran of the Iraq war who was at the top of his police academy class before he was hired in 2008, Nye had been suspended without pay since June. Waldron said he and his client will consider appealing to Northampton County Court.

"I want to let him go home and take a little time and decide whether he wants to appeal," Waldron said. "We'll discuss our options, I think with clearer heads, in the morning."

Nye's firing is rooted in allegations of police brutality of a suspect following a March 8 high speed car chase through city streets. Though Nye was ultimately cleared of the brutality charge, his conduct during the investigation became the focus of his superiors.

The conclusion of that chase was captured by a video camera outside of Roosevelt's 21st bar where Nye caught up to suspect Cory Vazquez. But a video disc of those events was destroyed, allegedly by city Police Officer Michael Lenner.

Lenner's hearing begins at 6 p.m. tonight at Town Hall.

When police internal investigators began to suspect that Lenner had seen the video, which they were seeking, Nye was ordered not to contact Lenner. But investigators later obtained cell phone records indicating that Nye called Lenner the very morning he was given those orders.

"Officer Nye was a good officer. He just made some bad decisions during an internal investigation," Bedics said.

Asked what message this decision sends to other officers in the department, the police commissioner said: "Integrity, which is one of the core principles of every police department is very important. When you jeopardize your integrity, you jeopardize your career.

"The difference in this case was the lying and disobeying orders," Bedics said. "I can't stress enough how important it was to the outcome of this case. He tried to hold on to that piece of evidence for as long as he could."