IN RE: Application of James MORROW (1997)

Determination of respondent Police Commissioner dated February 22, 1996, which dismissed petitioner from his position as a police officer, unanimously confirmed, the petition denied and the proceeding brought pursuant to CPLR article 78 (transferred to this Court by order of the Supreme Court, New York County [Paula Omansky, J.], entered September 16, 1996), dismissed, without costs.

Respondent's determination that petitioner should be dismissed was not based on petitioner's alcoholism, but on his inappropriate conduct in sliding down an escalator bannister in a hotel, in the nude, while in Washington, D.C. to attend the solemn occasion of memorial services for slain police officers (see, Newland v. Dalton, 9th Cir., 81 F.3d 904, 906, citing, inter alia, Maddox v. University of Tennessee, 6th Cir., 62 F.3d 843;  Little v. F.B.I., 4th Cir., 1 F.3d 255).   Recognizing respondent's accountability to the public for the integrity of the Police Department (see, Trotta v. Ward, 77 N.Y.2d 827, 566 N.Y.S.2d 199, 567 N.E.2d 241;  Shaya-Castro v. New York City Police Dept., 233 A.D.2d 233, 649 N.Y.S.2d 711), the penalty does not shock our sense of fairness.   We have considered petitioner's other contentions and find them to be without merit.

MEMORANDUM DECISION.