People ex rel. Brown v. Greene

Citations

• 106 A.D. 230
• 94 N.Y.S. 477

Syllabus

<p>Trial of a member of the New York police force before a deputy police commissioner ■— the deputy is not disqualified because he directs tile captain to prefer charges — error in refusing to grant an adjournment, iiow cured — when the decision of the commissioner will not be disturbed.</p> <p>The fact that a deputy commissioner of police of the police department of the city of New York directs a police captain to prefer charges against a patrol,rhan for unlawfully clubbing a citizen, does not disqualify the deputy commissioner from presiding at the trial of the patrolman upon the charges preferred against him pursuant to such direction, particularly where it appears that under the rules of the department it was the duty of the captain to prefer the charges without any direction from the deputy commissioner.</p> <p>■Any error, involved in the refusal of the deputy commissioner to grant the accused patrolman’s request, for an adjournment of the trial, made on the ground that his counsel could not be present and that his witnesses were not in attendance, is cured, where, after the examination of three witnesses, the deputy commissioner grants an adjournment and on the adjourned day produces for cross-examination the witnesses previously sworn.</p> <p>The good of the police service in the city of New York requires that a wide discretion should be vested in the police commissioners and that their judgment ■ and determination in a given case should mot be disturbed unless there is an absence of evidence to sustain.it.</p> <p>Their findings and determination on the facts, when the evidence is conflicting and contradictory, should be' regarded as conclusive when there is sufficient evidence, if believed, to sustain their determination.</p>