A former New Hyde Park fire commissioner and his firefighter son received a $900,000 settlement from the fire department after they said the department damaged their reputations by having them wrongfully arrested on theft charges.
For Michael Dolan and his son, Michael Jr., the settlement announced Tuesday marked the culmination of a six-year legal battle to clear their names.
“I can hold my head high again,” Michael Dolan Sr. told reporters at the Carle Place office of his attorney, Rick Ostrove of Leeds Brown Law. His son, sitting beside him, added, “You can’t just lock somebody up because you don’t like them.” Michael Dolan Sr., 74, was a fire commissioner and Michael Dolan Jr., 35, was a department volunteer when fire commissioners accused them of stealing 65 Kidde smoke detectors in 2012 from a secure room in the firehouse. Police charged each with grand larceny in the third degree.