Two Nassau County police detectives are under investigation after a federal judge found they unconstitutionally strip-searched a Cambria Heights man in public and then lied about it on the witness stand, a district attorney spokesperson and a lawyer close to the case confirmed.
Both the New York attorney general and the Nassau County district attorney are investigating detectives Robert D. Galgano and Daniel P. Concannon. This is one of the first investigations conducted by the attorney general’s new police misconduct office. If either investigation finds the detectives broke the law, criminal charges could be brought against them.
The Nassau County Police Department disputed the investigation claims without providing any support.
“It’s inaccurate and I can't go further into it,” spokesperson Richard LeBrun said.
The alleged misconduct is connected to an arrest in 2018. Galgano and Concannon made a traffic stop, later testifying that they suspected the driver of hiding drugs. James Jenkins, who was a passenger in the vehicle, was told to undress and lay naked on the street while officers searched his private parts, according to court testimony. No drugs were ever found according to records submitted in court during a civil lawsuit claiming false arrest and excessive force. In police reports and in court, Galgano and Concannon said they searched Jenkins with his consent, and for their own safety. The judge ruled these statements “farcical” and took the exceptionally rare step of fining the detectives personally for a total of $30,000.
An attorney for Jenkins said the attorney general’s Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigation Office contacted them to ask for various records.
“They were examining both the incident of the strip search and the trial during which the officers who were involved in the strip search testified falsely,” said Ali Frick, a lawyer with Kaufman, Lieb, Lebowitz & Frick.
A spokesman for the attorney general’s office declined to comment. The Nassau County Police Detectives' Association did not respond to multiple messages.
In 2022, Galgano earned $171,852 and Concannon earned $163,640. Both were promoted to the rank of detective after Jenkin’s strip search and shortly before the trial.
Galgano and Concannon were officers in the NYPD before they joined Nassau police. Galgano had 10 unsubstantiated misconduct complaints stemming from two incidents. He resigned before the second incident could be investigated.
In October, WSHU and Gothamist reported that Nassau police found zero “founded” civilian complaints for false arrest and excessive force over the last six years, even though the county settled dozens of lawsuits that involved allegations of those offenses. This disconnect alarmed police experts and police reform advocates.
A month later, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said nine officers were terminated or had been forced to resign or retire in 2022 because of their behavior, even though there had been no founded civilian complaints.
Ryder told lawmakers that the nine officers who were asked to leave set a record for the department. He added that the attorney general said two of the internal affairs punishments he imposed were insufficient. "If the AG doesn't like it, the AG overrides it and comes down with a stricter penalty,” he said.
