East Lyme ― The town plans to launch another internal investigation of its police department, this time targeting a veteran police detective accused of improprieties in a recent investigation.

The Board of Police Commissioners met behind closed doors Monday and then emerged to vote to hire the Daigle Law Group of Stonington to investigate police Detective Mark Comeau.

The town has already enlisted the Daigle Law Group to investigate Police Chief Michael Finkelstein and the circumstances of how the department handled multiple allegations of domestic violence by Finkelstein’s wife. Finkelstein, who was arrested by state police, remains on paid administrative leave and the investigation is still ongoing.

Comeau was not placed on leave, Board of Police Commissioners Chairman Dan Price said. He declined further comment.

It was Comeau’s investigation that led to the arrest earlier this year of Stephen Nicholson, 35, on 11 stalking-related charges that included felony kidnapping and unlawful restraint.

A judge in New London Superior Court last week dismissed all charges against Nicholson after it was revealed, according to Nicholson’s defense team, that Comeau was neighbors with alleged teenage victim Claire Killin and had a personal relationship with her.

Nicholson was held in jail for seven weeks before state prosecutors lowered his $250,000 bond to a promise to appear in court. His family has hired the Strafaci Law Firm of New London to explore a basis for a civil lawsuit.

The timeline for the internal investigation into Comeau’s handling of the Nicholson investigation is not yet clear. East Lyme First Selectman Dan Cunningham said Monday he had not yet been apprised of the details of the police commission vote but thought the investigation was a good idea.

“It’s important that the town have confidence in its police department and we have a number of things going on right now,” Cunningham said. “I think it was the right thing to do for the police commission to order an investigation to see if there was some wrongdoing or not. It’s important that that question be answered.”

Nicholson’s mother upset over delay

Jennifer Parker-Nicholson, Stephen Nicholson’s mother, said Monday she was still in shock that her son’s case took as long as it did to be dismissed. She said the persistence of family and work of the public defender’s office helped lead to her son’s freedom. She said she is still frustrated by the lack of action by the town and police department in not quickly questioning the veracity of the allegations against her son.

“Until we started pushing back, they weren’t going to do (expletive),” Parker-Nicholson said.

Attorney M. John Strafaci said possible targets of a civil suit include the town of East Lyme, Comeau, Killin, and possibly other members of the police department. East Lyme Police Lt. Dana Jezierski, for instance, supposedly reviewed Comeau’s arrest warrant application for Nicholson and “approved all of that despite the fact that Comeau had not really corroborated the information with any of the witnesses.”

Killin has pending civil lawsuit against Dunkin in East Lyme, her former employer and where she worked with Nicholson, and makes many of the claims alleged in the arrest warrant for Nicholson.

Strafaci said he is also looking into reports that Finkelstein and Cunningham were aware of all of the problems with Nicholson’s case before Nicholson’s March 15, 2024, arrest.

“This is probably one of the worst cases of police misconduct we’ve seen in a long time,” Strafaci said.

Police had alleged Nicholson was repeatedly harassing, cyberstalking and making inappropriate comments to Killin starting when she was 17 and a co-worker at Dunkin. The interaction had become threatening, police alleged, and culminated with a physical assault.

Strafaci said that based on information from Nicholson, it appears the tables should have been turned and police should have been investigating Killin for fraudulently using Nicholson’s credit card. It was only after Nicholson’s family started raising issues with Killin using Nicholson’s credit card, Strafaci said, that it appears she went to Comeau “her police department friend” to trump up charges against him.

Strafaci said that while the internal investigation seems appropriate, he remains concerned Comeau was not placed on leave and instead is working as an evidence officer.

“There are some police officers in the town of East Lyme who are dedicated and do have a clear sense of what is right and what is wrong. I think they would like to see this mess at the police department cleaned up as much as possible,” Strafaci said.

Comeau, who has worked for more than two decades at the East Lyme Police Department and previously worked for 11 years at the Westbrook Police Department, could not be reached to comment.

g.smith@theday.com