Thomas Lohmann, Thomas McCarthy appear together at Smithtown board meeting for first time since dustup

Smithtown Councilman Thomas Lohmann attended his first town board meeting Tuesday since being accused of assaulting a fellow lawmaker last month.

Lohmann took his usual seat on the dais as the 2 p.m. meeting opened. Councilman and Deputy Supervisor Thomas J. McCarthy, whom Lohmann is accused of striking with an open hand at a meeting on April 7, sat at the other end of the dais. The two men had entered the meeting room separately.

No mention was made of Lohmann or the incident as Tuesday's meeting began. The board then heard a pair of public hearings on proposed e-bike restrictions before voting on a series of unrelated resolutions.

The meeting ended quickly, lasting 11 minutes. 

Lohmann declined to comment as he departed. He and McCarthy left via separate exits.

Following the meeting, McCarthy declined to say how he felt about attending a meeting with Lohmann.

“It was just a typical meeting,” he said in a telephone interview. “We did the people’s work, voted the agenda and went back to our offices.”

Supervisor Edward Wehrheim could not be reached for comment.

The meeting was lightly attended, with a handful of residents, two reporters and a photographer present.

The town board voted to approve several dozen items, including equipment purchases, a town gender-based violence and workplace policy, and various personnel appointments and promotions.

The meeting Tuesday was the second since Lohman was charged with hitting fellow Republican McCarthy during a closed-door executive session April 7. 

Lohmann did not appear at the town board's April 23 meeting, the panel's first since the incident. His absence then was not mentioned by Wehrheim or other board members. A town spokesperson, Nicole Garguilo, attributed Lohmann's absence to an unspecified health issue.

Lohmann, 68, was charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, a day after the incident. McCarthy has said he was punched and struck multiple times, requiring an MRI on four different parts of his body. He has declined to discuss the test results.

Lohmann has declined to discuss the matter publicly. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment April 28 in Suffolk County First District Court in Central Islip. 

McCarthy has said the incident occurred during a discussion of an unspecified legal issue.

Video of the April 7 meeting shows McCarthy forcefully pushing a chair past Lohmann as the meeting ended. The two had an animated discussion with the sound on the video turned off.

Lohmann is due back in court June 10, according to online court records.