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The Town of Southampton is facing millions of dollars in lawsuits surrounding claims of abuse by the town's police department.

Members of the Southampton Police Department have been accused of drug use, shakedowns and harassment. Seven convictions have been vacated following a probe by the Suffolk DA into more than 100 cases handled by the department's now disbanded street crimes unit. Two members of the department, Lt. James Kiernan and officer Eric Sickles, have been reinstated following suspensions over Sickles' remaining on the job despite a known addiction to prescription pills.

Frank Vlahadamis, the owner of the Hampton Bays Diner, is among the plaintiffs involved in lawsuits against the town. Vlahadamis claims members of the department, including Kiernan, all but tried to run him out of town after he started hosting a "Hispanic night." A lawsuit against Kiernan resulted in a hung jury and was dismissed. His lawsuit against the town is still pending, but he says he now wants to sell the diner after owning it for 30 years.

"He's back on the force like nothing happened," says Vlahadamis. "I'm afraid this guy is going to come after me again."

Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst, a registered Independent, sought an outside company to review the department's procedures and policies. She could not get the necessary support of the full town board, however.

Among the Town of Southampton's five-member board are two Republicans and one Conservative. Campaign records obtained by Newsday show Kiernan is a large donor and a Republican Party committee member.

Through their attorneys, both Kiernan and Sickles declined requests for on-camera interviews.

The Town of Southampton is facing millions of dollars in lawsuits surrounding claims of abuse by the town's police department.    Members of the Southampton Police Department have been accused of drug

Long Island

LI | Weather

LIFORECAST

But on Sunday, we are going to watch showers throughout the day, the worst of this weather will get here at night. So at least that's the good news. Most of the really bad stuff with the heavy rain and strong winds will be overnight Sunday and hopefully we most of us are sleeping through it. So 55 Saturday, 60 on Sunday, but it will get breezy through the day, strong winds by the evening with that heavy rainfall, we could get 2 to 3 inches, maybe more in some spots. So that's some pretty heavy rain. There could be a little bit of flooding in some spots overnight. Sunday, here's a look at your Sunday timeline. The morning is dry, you see the clouds 10 a.m. we could have a spot shower. Most of that rainfall will come in after two, the heavier rain with the big front that's passing by will come in after eight o'clock. So especially around midnight, that's when we could see the worst of it. So Saturday looks nice. It's partly sunny, it's warmer. We're in the fifties. Temperatures are about 10 degrees above normal. And by Sunday morning we start the day in the fifties, we're going up close to 60. This is two o'clock in the afternoon and we do see these showers popping up so they'll be hitting. You have to expect some wet weather on Sunday. But this big front that will bring the heavy steadier rain is off to our west until about eight o'clock in the evening. Slowly passing by overnight. This is 2 to 3 a.m. and we have that heavy rainfall with the strong winds in Suffolk County trekking towards the east end Monday morning and then it will get out of here during the height of that heavy rain. We could see winds gusting 40 to 50 MPH, but.

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Alleged Southampton PD abuse breeds lawsuits, fear