LEXINGTON - The town's police union president, fired two weeks ago for allegedly injuring a resident and then lying about it, is challenging the dismissal, according to the town manager.
Town Manager Carl Valente said Michael Rizzo was put on administrative leave last January because of the episode in late summer 2006, and dismissed following recent disciplinary hearings.
A new union coalition representing police officers from 13 Boston-area communities, including Lexington, protested the dismissal, calling it an act of union busting.
Harold MacGilvray, president of the Massachusetts Municipal Police Coalition, described Rizzo as an aggressive union president who had forced the town to go into arbitration for a new contract.
"It looks like Mike is paying the price for doing his job as union president," MacGilvray said.
Valente said the firing had nothing to do with Rizzo's union activities.
"The town discharged Officer Rizzo because he violated the department's use of force policy, while on duty, injuring a young resident of our community," Valente said in a prepared statement.
Rizzo "was also found to have made untruthful statements about the incident, which hindered the department's investigation," the statement said.
Valente, who said the town held five days of hearings and interviewed nine witnesses about the episode, declined to describe Rizzo's alleged conduct, or to name the alleged victim.
Rizzo is appealing his discharge before the state Civil Service Commission, Valente said.
Rizzo could not be reached for comment. Numerous calls to the law firm representing him, McDonald and Associates in Southborough, were not returned.
Rizzo was reelected to his union post last month and remains as president, Lexington police Sergeant John Mazerall said.
Rizzo was among five signatories to a letter published in July in the Lexington Minuteman, in which the Lexington Police Association executive board accused the town of failing to address the lack of a collective bargaining agreement since July 2004.
Valente, who said police negotiations often go into arbitration, pointed to problems that had stalled negotiations.
For one, he said, local officials, who were searching for a new town manager, wanted to finalize the appointment before completing police contract negotiations. Valente started his job in Lexington in July 2005.
Also, the police encountered technical problems when choosing a new union to represent them, Valente said. The union voted more than a year ago to be represented by the Lexington Police Association instead of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, and still does not have a contract with the town.
Connie Paige can be reached at cpaige@globe.com.
