Southampton Village Reaches Settlement With Suspended Officer; Another Employee Suspended

In a short special meeting on Wednesday, July 6, the Southampton Village Board voted to suspend one employee and to settle with another who has been suspended for more than half a year.

In a 4-0 vote — with a notable abstention from Mayor Jesse Warren — the board agreed on a settlement with Southampton Village Police Officer Lee Pulliam, who was suspended in January after he was charged with trespassing in his neighbor’s home a few weeks earlier, on Christmas Eve, in their Manorville neighborhood.

According to Suffolk County Police, Pulliam unlawfully entered his neighbor’s home on Windcrest Drive through an unlocked door without permission shortly before 9 p.m. Suffolk County Police charged Pulliam, 34 at the time, with second-degree criminal trespass, a misdemeanor, on January 18. The Village Board suspended him a week later.

Village Trustees Gina Arresta, Bill Manger, Robin Brown and Roy Stevenson all voted in favor of the settlement in the public portion of the July 6 meeting, after coming out of a closed-door executive session.

Village officials would not release the stipulation of settlement, saying the village counsel had advised them not to do so until the settlement was signed by both parties, but Warren said the settlement includes, in part, that Pulliam would agree to give up all his banked vacation time and agree to a “last chance” clause, meaning if he engaged in any improper conduct going forward, he would lose his job.

Warren said he expected that Pulliam would return to work as soon as the settlement was signed.

During the public portion of the meeting, Warren offered an explanation for why he abstained from voting.

“I do not have all the facts needed to make this decision,” he said at the meeting, adding that he had not heard from the hearing officer that was appointed to handle the case. He said that not having enough information to make a decision is “an appropriate reason” for abstaining.

He also expressed some frustration with the entire process and how it ultimately ended in a settlement after seven months.

“This board could have been in a situation where we could have settled earlier on instead of having it drawn out,” he said. “If we were going to settle, I wish we had settled early on instead of taking so long.”

Southampton Village PBA President Michael Horstman said earlier this week that he would not be able to comment on the settlement or disclose any of the terms until it was signed by both parties.

Like the Pulliam settlement, there was not much in the way of details offered by village officials in another personnel move, the suspension of Paul Murphy. After coming out of executive session, the board voted unanimously, in the first of two walk-on resolutions, to suspend the Highway Department supervisor without pay for 30 days.

Additional details about why Murphy was suspended were not provided.