Hearing for Fawn police officer fighting for his job cut short

A hearing for a Fawn police officer fighting for his job was cut short Monday over concerns a township supervisor participating by telephone could not hear.

Complicating matters was that, because of covid-19, the hearing was held outdoors with participants wearing face masks and physically distanced.

Keith Lazaron II, 35, of Allegheny Township, has been suspended without pay since June 1. Lazaron claims the township is trying to fire him because he disobeyed Supervisor David Montanari’s demand to cite his neighbor over a recreational fire in April.

Lazaron said he didn’t cite Montanari’s neighbor because he found no violation.

“A police officer’s job is not to take sides but to be neutral and unbiased,” Lazaron said.

Chris Gabriel, an attorney representing the township, said in his opening remarks at the hearing that police Chief Tim Mayberry recommended Lazaron be fired for insubordination. According to Gabriel, Lazaron refused to tell Mayberry how he had found out that Mayberry had checked on his work performance when Lazaron confronted Mayberry about it in May.

The check was routine and found nothing wrong, Gabriel said.

Gabriel said Lazaron committed another infraction in giving information to news reporters.

All supervisors were present at the hearing except for David Norris, who participated by telephone from Florida.

Mayberry testified briefly before the hearing was called off over concerns raised by Lazaron’s attorney, Craig Alexander, that Norris could not hear or, if he could, he didn’t know who was speaking. Alexander said that made Norris unable to render a decision.

Several times, Norris did not respond when Alexander asked if he could hear him, or could not correctly restate the last thing someone said. Norris said that at times he was not sure who had been speaking, leading to his confusion.

A stenographer, initially sitting just inside a doorway out of the sun, was also having trouble hearing. When moved outside to be closer, the stenographer said she could not see the screen on her stenograph machine.

Supervisors approved suspending the hearing over Alexander’s objections. Alexander said it had been delayed long enough already and wanted it to proceed with the four supervisors physically present.

Alexander repeatedly demanded that supervisors either change Lazaron’s suspension from unpaid to paid or bring him back to work. They took no action.

Alexander also called for Montanari to recuse himself because he said he is at the center of the allegations. Montanari did not, and said he would be able to fairly decide the case.

It was not known when the hearing would continue.

Residents and other law enforcement officers attended the hearing, including several residents who were wearing shirts that said “Keith for chief.”

Lazaron, who said he has 17 years of law enforcement experience, started working for Fawn part-time in September 2018 and went to full-time in June 2019. He thanked township residents for their support.

“I did the right thing,” Lazaron said.