A criminal defense attorney is being hired to prosecute disciplinary charges connected to an alleged fight between Springfield police officers and several men outside a bar in 2015.
The city is enlisting the services of Thomas Kokonowski of Northampton, who will make the case for discipline in front of the Community Police Hearing Board.
The men say they were attacked by a group that included off-duty Springfield officers, but Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni declined to prosecute the case.
The city says Kokonowski has done similar work in the past for the former police commissioners board.