$180,000 sick-time payout approved for ex-police chief

BRADLEY BEACH — The Bradley Beach Borough Council authorized a payout of about $180,000 in accumulated sick time to retired Bradley Beach Chief of Police Leonard Guida. Guida, who was the subject of a scathing Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office (MCPO) report following the release of a video of a physical confrontation with another officer, will be paid in three separate and equal installments in 2024, 2025 and 2026, according to the resolution.

On October 15 of the next three years, Guida will receive installments of $60,750 in accumulated sick time from his 44-year career with the Bradley Beach Police Department, totaling $182,250, according to the resolution.

The resolution was approved in a 4-0-1 vote, with Council President Jane DeNoble abstaining due to an instance in which she was mentioned in the MCPO report.

Guida retired from the department on March 1, following the public release of the MCPO report detailing nine incidents dating back to 2022.

The report came after a confrontation from November 2023 between Bradley Beach Police Sgt. William Major and Guida was captured on several body-worn cameras and published online. The video of the confrontation, which has since amassed more than seven million views on Youtube, triggered the MCPO investigation and subsequent report.

The MCPO report found that in seven of nine cases examined, Guida violated numerous Bradley Beach Police Department rules and regulations. In those seven incidents , the MCPO found that Guida acted in violation of 24 department rules and regulations (some on multiple occasions), the Bradley Beach employee handbook, the MCPO early-intervention policy and several International Association of Privacy Professionals investigation procedures.

“The findings outlined in this report illustrate unmistakably that over the previous year and a half, Chief Guida has been an active hindrance to the very law enforcement agency he was entrusted to lead,” Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago stated upon the public release of the report.

Following Guida’s preemptive retirement on March 1, the borough council voted to attempt to take disciplinary action against the former chief in two lawsuits that appeared before Judge Owen C. McCarthy in state Superior Court. In both cases, Judge McCarthy ruled in favor of Guida, who avoided any disciplinary action in lieu of the infamous exchange and other violations examined.

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