A Rochester police investigator who handcuffed an EMT at Strong Memorial Hospital after she door-dinged his unmarked squad car will be allowed to retire instead of being fired.
Investigator Charles LoTempio will remain on the force — using up his paid vacation and compensatory time, then on paid suspension — until hitting his 20-year mark next spring.
He has been on paid suspension since detaining and injuring Monroe Ambulance medic Lekia Smith in July 2022.
Police Chief David Smith had concluded two years ago that LoTempio should be terminated. LoTempio had two prior cases of misconduct — one for knocking a man’s teeth out with a flashlight during a traffic stop, the other for strip-searching a man despite not having a warrant.
“As chief, I have a responsibility to both our community and to the rights of our employees,” he said in a statement released Wednesday evening. “Although this was a lengthy process, it was crucial to follow all of the steps outlined in both Civil Service Law and the Collective Bargaining Agreement. I appreciate the patience shown throughout this process, which is ultimately ending with Investigator LoTempio no longer serving as a police officer in the City of Rochester.”
The redacted file outlining the disciplinary process and findings was uploaded to the city's online database on Wednesday.
LoTempio will be stripped of his certification, meaning he will no longer be able to work as a police officer in New York state. He signed a separation agreement in July that cannot be appealed.
EMT Smith was unloading a patient back in 2022, and did not comply with LoTempio’s attempt to document the damage to his vehicle, including providing her driver’s license, records show. He followed her into the emergency department, handcuffed and later released her.
Video of the interaction drew widespread condemnation.
Chief Smith said in his statement that it was “obvious” after a preliminary review of the situation that LoTempio’s actions “were not in line with my expectations.”
An internal investigation concluded that LoTempio lacked sufficient cause to arrest or detain Smith, that he failed to de-escalate the situation and used unnecessary or excessive force, violated the department’s code of conduct, and failed to double-lock the medic’s handcuffs, which prevents the handcuffs from further tightening.
Chief Smith signed off on the findings back on Sept. 29, 2022, and recommended that LoTempio be fired. LoTempio had the right to contest that conclusion, and did so, seeking a hearing in which arbitrator Douglas Bantle reached a different conclusion. Bantle found that there was not sufficient evidence to sustain any violations by LoTempio except failing to double-lock the handcuffs and recommended a counseling memorandum or training.
“The testimony at the hearing from other officers suggest that they could have been suspicious of Ms. Smith’s conduct,” Bantle wrote, “and that Investigator LoTempio followed the training and the Use of Force Matrix of the Rochester Police Department.”
That also ran counter to the Police Accountability Board, an outside agency charged with reviewing police conduct and policies, which released a series of investigative reports this week including one on this encounter that also recommended LaTempio's firing. That report was dated Aug. 15 of this year. The board received the complaint in July 2022.
While Smith had the authority to fire LoTempio anyway, LoTempio then could have taken the city to court given the disparate case findings and sought to be reinstated. All this could have put his pension at risk. Instead, records show, he “expressed a desire to retire from employment.”
If he does not file for retirement, he will be fired the first day after his eligibility date, according to his separation agreement with the city.
EMT Smith never returned to work, a Monroe Ambulance spokesperson said. She told WROC last year that she still was suffering from a wrist and shoulder injury sustained during the encounter with LoTempio.
