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Police Union Leader Under Investigation For Calling Councilmember A "First-Class Whore"
By
David Cruz
Published Sep 10, 2020
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By
David Cruz
Published Sep 10, 2020
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The civilian agency that investigates NYPD misconduct has opened an investigation into the head of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, Ed Mullins, after Mullins called Bronx Councilmember Ritchie Torres a "first-class whore" last week in a tweet.
Mullins, who has been the president of the SBA for 18 years, and has a history of making racist and offensive remarks, later deleted the tweet.
The Civilian Complaint Review Board began their investigation after Torres made a complaint. The CCRB investigates cases of misconduct under four categories: abuse of authority, discourtesy, force, and offensive language. It's likely investigators will determine whether Mullins, who recently appeared on Fox News with a QAnon mug in the background, violated the offensive Language and discourtesy categories.
Mullins declined to comment on the investigation.
Prior to this complaint, Mullins was investigated by the CCRB for allegations since 1998, with four of those allegations falling under the category of force. None of his cases were substantiated, though he's had four cases that were classified unsubstantiated, meaning there was not enough evidence to prove or disprove wrongdoing.
Mullins's comments builds on a history of racist, sexist, and lewd remarks he's made on the SBA's official Twitter account. In summer of 2019, Mullins emailed a video to its 13,000-member organization that compared Black people to "monsters." Mullins later apologized, calling it an "honest mistake."
In February, following the shooting of two police officers, Mullins posted a tweet "declaring war" on Mayor Bill de Blasio. His comments sparked an internal NYPD investigation, though a final determination is pending.
Despite the NYPD's investigation, Mullins, who receives a taxpayer-funded salary of $133,000, continued using Twitter to post offensive comments. In May, Mullins called then-city Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot a "bitch," in response to a story revealing an internal fight between the DOH and NYPD over the distribution of PPE during the early days of the coronavirus crisis.
Other posts shared by the SBA Twitter account claimed "Ferguson Missouri was a lie," and an assertion that college students demonstrating against the police are asking for mass shootings.
On Tuesday, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said that he was "disappointed" by Mullins's most recent comments.
Torres, who is Afro-Latino and openly gay, represents parts of the Central Bronx and was recently declared the Democratic nominee for the hotly contested 15th Congressional District race in the South Bronx. Torres recommended that the SBA be investigated in June after the union was found to have posted an arrest report of de Blasio's daughter after she was detained during the protests against racist police brutality.
Torres told Gothamist that Mullins "has disgraced his office over and over again," echoing a tweet he posted on Tuesday, calling Mullins a "racist relic of the past."
He's since called on Mullins to resign. Mullins responded by calling Torres "hopelessly naïve" and said the councilmember should be the one to resign.
The CCRB— which is currently dealing with a backlog of cases—did not provide an estimated time on when they would finish their investigation.
A review of CCRB data posted by the New York Civil Liberties Union shows 2.6% of cases under Offensive Language were deemed substantiated since the agency began collecting data, with 22% of those substantiated cases resulting in no penalty. Likewise, 2.6% off cases falling under Discourtesy were deemed substantiated, with 24% resulting in no penalty recommendation.
Tagged
ed mullins
sba
mayor bill de blasio
nypd
CCRB
David Cruz
David is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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