DA Doorley: Greece police shielded chief in drunken crash investigation

Some in the Greece police seemed more interested in scapegoating other police officers than determining the reason for the October 2021 drunken driving crash of then-police Chief Andrew Forsythe, Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley said in a recent deposition.

Asked in the deposition whether she thought the police were focused on Forsythe's crime, Doorley answered: "They were trying to protect one of their own. .... That's exactly what they were doing."

In the the 200-page deposition, part of an ongoing civil lawsuit against Greece officials, Doorley said that Forsythe wanted to resign as chief shortly after he crashed his department-issued vehicle on Route 390. However, Greece Deputy Supervisor Michelle Marini didn't want him to take that step, Doorley said.

"I've had several conversations with Drew (Forsythe) since this happened," Doorley said. "I recall him saying that he wanted to resign and Michelle Marini told him not to." Marini no longer works with the town.

"Did he tell you why Michelle Marini told him not to?" Maureen Bass, an attorney in the case, asked.

"I don't recall that part," Doorley said.

The deposition, one of several included in recent public filings in a lawsuit, is unusual in that it is a glimpse into questions Doorley had about the direction of the investigation.

Doorley was deposed in the lawsuit of former Greece Deputy Chief Casey Voelkl against the town, town officials and police. Voelkl, who no longer works for the department, has maintained that he was demoted and punished by the town for reaching out to an outside agency to take over the crash investigation.

It was Voelkl who notified the DA's office of the crash, which jumpstarted an independent investigation from the DA's Office and led to a plea from Forsythe to driving while ability impaired, a misdemeanor. He also resigned from his job.

Maureen Bass, an attorney for Voelkl, declined to comment and referred to the court papers, as did lawyers for the town. Doorley also declined to comment.

What did Michelle Marini know and when?

In the deposition, Doorley said that Marini also appeared to know shortly after the crash, before it was publicly acknowledged, that Forsythe had been drinking when he wrecked the car.

"Did Drew Forsythe tell you that he had told Michelle Marini that he wanted to resign, like on the first day or second day from the accident, is that accurate?" Bass asked Doorley during the Nov. 7 deposition.

"That's to the best of my recollection," Doorley said.

"So that would have to mean that Michelle Marini would have had to have known that he had been drinking within 24 to 48 hours of the accident, is that accurate?"

"That could be accurate, yes," Doorley said.

Doorley acknowledged that she had no concrete evidence of Marini's knowledge about Forsythe's drunkenness. In interviews with investigators, which are also part of the court filings, Marini said that Forsythe offered to resign, but this was before she knew he had been drinking before the crash. The idea of resigning, Marini said, "seemed unnecessarily dramatic."

Marini received a text and later a call from Forsythe after the crash, and he said he'd hit a guardrail after a deer dashed in front of him. Marini said she eventually learned Forsythe had possibly been drinking from media reports and the DA's Office.

Greece Supervisor Bill Reilich suspended Forsythe days after the crash, as more questions arose.

Marini is now criminally charged with public corruption and grand larceny. Prosecutors allege that, when deputy supervisor, she stole money from separate projects in Monroe County, but scant details have been provided. She has pleaded not guilty.

Why the depositions?

The impetus for these depositions is an incremental step in the litigation: Voelkl's attorney wants to depose current and town attorneys who she contends have information that could be important to allegations of retaliation against Voelkl, the plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Lawyers for the town have maintained that the depositions are unnecessary and that no evidence has arisen to support claims of retaliation against Voelkl.

"Despite tens of thousands of documents produced in this case thus far, there are none supporting any of Plaintiff’s allegations in this case," Svetlana Ivy, an attorney for the town, wrote in court papers. "No evidence whatsoever of any retaliation or impropriety has surfaced. Indeed, no evidence exists that Plaintiff was ever a whistleblower in the first place, much less that he was punished for being one."

Also deposed in the case have been the outside investigators brought in by Greece and the DA's Office in the aftermath of the crash. Those investigators questioned Voelkl's response to the crash, saying he did not diligently start an investigation and instead seemed willing to help Forsythe.

One of the investigators, Mark Case, a retired Rochester police commander, said there was proof that Voelkl instructed officers who responded to the crash to not take photographs and to drive Forsythe home.

In the crash, Forsythe slammed into a guardrail, losing a wheel, then drove another six miles with sparks flying from the vehicle.

In an incident like that, Case said in his deposition, Voelkl "better do the right thing" and call in outside agencies to investigate. Voelkl has maintained he eventually did just that, calling Doorley, and that he was at first unaware of the severity of the crash.

Voelkl should have asked questions immediately upon learning of the crash, Case said in his deposition. "He didn't ask questions," Case said. "He didn't ask, you know, was he drinking?"

Case said he was surprised that Voelkl had been demoted from deputy chief to a patrol position, instead of a higher rank like lieutenant.

Whom to trust?

In her deposition, Doorley said she has always found Voelkl to be trustworthy and a straight shooter. Town officials seemed more intent on investigating possible whistleblowers than the officers who first responded to the crash, Doorley said. (Those officers also faced discipline after an internal investigation.)

"The investigation should have been directed towards those officers who were at the scene and questioning their observations and how they could not detect any indicia of intoxication," Doorley said.

Also suing the town is a former police sergeant, Bryan Root, who took photos of Forsythe's totaled vehicle at the impound lot and passed them on to a former Greece police official. Those photos made their way to the media.

Root alleges that he too was retaliated against for whistleblowing. The town has contended that Root and Voelkl were disciplined for other professional issues.

"Does it strike you as odd that Casey Voelkl and Bryan Root became the target, that those two would be the targets in light of the fact that they're now claiming they were the two whistleblowers that brought the accident (to light), one to you and one to the newspaper?" Bass asked Doorley in the deposition.

"It's curious," Doorley said.

Supervisor Reilich was cooperative with the DA's Office throughout its investigation, Doorley said. Asked about the actions taken against Voelkl and Root, Doorley said, "It's my understanding in knowing Greece for as long as I have that nothing is done there without directions from the supervisor's office."

Doorley said she had also had a positive relationship with Forsythe and had worked with him on numerous investigations.

Doorley herself is now being investigated by attorney discipline organizations for her berating of a Webster police officer who charged her with speeding in April. The confrontation, caught on police body-worn camera, went viral nationally after its release to the media. She could face disciplinary measures.

In her deposition, Doorley said of Forsythe and the crash, "People make decisions, incorrect decisions, all the time."

- Gary Craig is a veteran Democrat and Chronicle reporter who has written about various Greece police scandals since the mid-1990s.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Greece NY police shielded chief in drunken crash investigation: DA