Greenfield Police Chief Brian Giammarino has announced his retirement, a little more than a year after he fired a fatal shot that killed a teenager — one who led officers on a chase in a stolen luxury car and later brandished a weapon at them.
Giammarino was placed on leave after the June 21 shooting unfolded. He returned to the department about a month later after the state’s attorney general ruled the shot that claimed 19-year-old Lane Lesko’s life, who struggled with mental-health issues, was justified.
“It was time to step away from a leadership role,” Giammarino said during an interview with the Ledger-Transcript on Thursday.
Giammarino would not comment on the record if his retirement was connected to the incident last summer. His retirement will go into effect at the beginning of September.
“When I heard about [the shooting] I knew that Brian did everything he could not to have it end that way because he is a by-the-books kind of guy,” said Karen Day, who lives in Greenfield and was on the select board for nine years. “I knew that he did everything he could to not let it get to that point.”
Day said over the years, she and Giammarino have become close, calling him a friend.
“He is well loved in this community,” Day said, adding that his retirement will be a big loss for the town.
Town Administrator Aaron Patt said Giammarino notified the select board of his retirement through a letter, and that the board reluctantly accepted his resignation.
“He has a tremendous work ethic, he’s worked tirelessly to fill in for vacation for years,” Patt said. “We really have a big set of shoes to fill.”
Giammarino attended Franklin Pierce University and after graduation landed a job working with hearing impaired children at Crotched Mountain. After the stint, he enlisted in the Peace Corps where he was stationed in Sierra Leone. When he returned, he became a member of the Peterborough Police Department and eventually worked his way over to Greenfield.
“Being a police officer, in my opinion, has always been an honor and a blessing,” Giammarino said, adding that he never derived meaning from his work from the title or rank that he held, but simply from serving the community.
He has spent more than a decade and a half with the department in Greenfield.
“I have always loved this town, it has always treated me very well, and it has always treated the department very well,” Giammarino said.
He said when the retirement becomes effective he will serve as a patrol officer on the Antrim Police Department and will also serve on the state’s fugitive task force.
“I will miss everything about the job (in Greenfield), and again it was a very difficult decision to make,” he said. “To step away like this after a long time took a lot of thinking, but I think it was the right thing to do.”
Patt said a search committee is being assembled to review applications that will eventually make a recommendation to the select board, who will ultimately have the final say.
He said they are aiming to have the process turned around by mid-to-late August.
Abby Kessler can be reached at 924-7172, ext. 234 or akessler@ledgertranscript.com.