Sleepy Hollow Agrees to Quinoy Settlement

The Village of Sleepy Hollow has agreed to a settlement with former police detective Jose Quinoy.

Quinoy was charged and acquitted of a number of federal charges that claimed he abused his position as a police officer during two separate incidents in 2006. The Village of Sleepy Hollow had filed disciplinary charges against the officer following the federal indictment, but the agreement approved Tuesday night by the Board of Trustees ends all legal actions against Quinoy.

"It's good for us to get this behind us, and by us I mean the village, the police department and anyone else who is involved in this," Sleepy Hollow Mayor Ken Wray said. "Now we are able to move forward."

Quinoy's attorney, Andrew Quinn, was unable to respond to a call placed late Tuesday night.

According the the resolution approved on Tuesday night, the Village wished to settle to put an end to "the uncertainties, costs and risks of continued litigation."

According to the settlement worked out between the village and Quinoy's representatives, Quinoy was reinstated to the police force but has resigned effective May 31, 2011. In the agreement, he releases the Village and any personnel from future claims.

The board reinstated Quinoy from the date he was placed on unpaid suspension – April 29, 2009. That allows Quinoy to receive back pay for the two years he was absent from the force, although Village officials declined to comment on the matter.

According to the website seethroughny.net, Quinoy was making about $133,000 a year in salary as a detective with the Sleepy Hollow Police Department.

Apparently, Quinoy also agreed to plead guilty to some of the disciplinary charges against him, but those specific charges were not made public and officials would not comment on them.

Quinoy was suspended from the Sleepy Hollow Police Department on April 29, 2009 without pay after he was indicted on a number of federal charges. In July 2010, a White Plains federal court jury found Quinoy  on two federal indictments — witness tampering and violating the civil rights of  in a 2006 stun gun incident.

The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on a third charge. That charge involved allegations Quinoy violated the civil rights of  when, in a separate incident in front of Village Hall on October 2006, he allegedly kicked and punched Gomez after he was handcuffed. That charge was later  by Federal prosecutors.

Quinoy then filed a lawsuit against the Village of Sleepy Hollow on November 24, 2010, seeking monetary damages due to his "wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution." The village started a disciplinary hearing against Quinoy on February 8, 2011, after his federal trial concluded. 

The series of disciplinary hearings in Sleepy Hollow never formally got underway due to Quinn's assertion that the board of trustees had filed charges against Quinoy too late. The law that governs police disciplinary hearings in Westchester villages and towns, known as 5711-q, specifically states that "charges shall not be brought more than ninety days after the time when the facts upon which such charges are based are known to such board of trustees or municipal board." The village-level charges brought against Quinoy were filed in 2009 and 2010, three years after the alleged incidents occurred.

Sleepy Hollow Police Chief Gregory Camp said the only matter that remained was to make sure any of Quinoy's property was returned to him.

"Both sides are happy with it, so we're just trying to move forward now," Camp said.