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 LAKE GEORGE---Jeffrey Clarke of Lake Luzerne, a patrol officer with the Warren County Sheriff's Department for the past 12 years, will face an administrative hearing Aug. 24 for allegedly drawing his service revolver and firing shots at a fleeing vehicle.
Clarke was suspended without pay by Sheriff Larry Cleveland who has stated publicly that he will seek Clarke's termination. Cleveland says that Clarke, who reportedly stated that he thought "it was the right thing to do", grossly violated departmental policy.
Cleveland has stated that Clarke was not justified in his firing at the vehicle because he was allegedly not on danger at the time.
Clarke has often been at loggerheads with Cleveland in the past and is not known as one of a host of officers favored by Cleveland. Clarke, who earns $47,740 annually, has long worked the A-line, or midnight to 8 a.m. shift. He has reportedly hired an attorney to attempt to negotiate with Cleveland prior to the Aug. 24 hearing in an effort to save his job.
Clarke is a member of the Police Benevolent Association of which Sgt. Tony Breen is president.
Breen has somewhat of a dual role in the matter in that he was directly involved in the incident involving Clarke.
Clarke, 38, was among several police officers who initiated chase of a car being operated by Carey S. Olsen, 18, of Georgetown, Conn., about 4:30 a.m. Saturday. State Police initially spotted Olsen driving erratically on the Northway. Olsen got off the Northway at Exit 22, north of the Lake George Village and police began a pursuit of his vehicle on Route 9 in Lake George.
About a mile north of the village, Olsen made a turn onto Finkle Farm Road, a dead end. Breen, who was one of the officers giving chase, exited his patrol car to approach Olsen's stopped car but as Breen neared the vehicle, Olsen drove off, allegedly striking a radio attached to Breen's belt, knocking it to the ground.
Clarke allegedly tried to block Olsen's passage on Finkle Road, to prevent it from getting back to Route 9 by pulling his patrol car across the road but Olsen drove around it. As Olsen's vehicle began to pull away, Clarke allegedly drew his .45 caliber semiautomatic weapon and fired several shots at the vehicle, allegedly shooting at the tires.
A short time later, Olsen's vehicle ran out of gas and he was arrested about an hour later when he returned to the Villager Motor Inn in Lake George where he had been staying. When the car was recovered, it had a flattened driver's side tire. Cleveland claims there were also bullet marks on the car's undercarriage.
Olsen was charged with driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor; reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and motor vehicle charges including speeding and failure to comply with a police officer. He is lodged in the Warren County Jail in lieu of $10,000 cash or $20,000 bond.
No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.
In the early 80's, when Cleveland was a patrol officer, he was responsible for the death of an elderly Canadian woman pedestrian who was trying to cross Route 9 south of Lake George Village in front of the Tiki Motor Lodge. Cleveland had initiated a high speed chase of a motorcyclist, wanted for speeding, through the village which ended when Cleveland's patrol vehicle struck the motorcycle, causing the operator to lose his leg.
The cyclist, Douglas Irish, was later elected to the Queensbury Town Board as councilman.
Shortly after that accident, Cleveland was involved in another accident while driving a patrol vehicle, colliding with a car at the intersection of Route 28 and Glen Creek Road. Cleveland reportedly had an unauthorized passenger in the patrol vehicle with him. The operator of the other car was later the operator of a tour boat on Lake George.
Frederick Lamy, currently one of three members of the state Commission on Corrections, was sheriff at the time.
Obviously Cleveland was not terminated from the sheriff's department despite having been responsible for the death of a woman and serious injury of another, obligating county taxpayers to extensive civil litigation.
8-16-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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