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What’s at stake as the NYPD’s highest-ranking officer faces a disciplinary trial
By
Samantha Max
Published Jul 2, 2024
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(Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
By
Samantha Max
Published Jul 2, 2024
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A disciplinary case against the NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed officer is testing the power of New York City’s police watchdog agency.
Officials at the Civilian Complaint Review Board say Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey abused his authority when he intervened in the arrest of a retired officer accused of chasing a group of boys through Brooklyn with his gun in 2021. Maddrey’s attorney asked a judge last week to throw out the case.
What are the allegations?
In November 2021, three boys were bouncing a basketball around 9 p.m. on a street in Brownsville when it busted a security camera at a building the retired officer was tending to, according to police records. The kids said it was an accident. But surveillance footage obtained by nonprofit newsroom The City shows the retired officer, Kruythoff Forrester, chasing the boys, who were 12, 13 and 14 years old at the time. The City last year received three-dozen body camera and surveillance videos through a public records request to the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.
The boys later told police that the officer pointed his gun at them, and at least one said he fired a shot as they ran away, according to NYPD records. In the body camera footage obtained by The City, the retired officer can be heard telling police he had a gun in a holster on his waist and that he yelled at the boys that he would shoot them but said he never took the pistol out. While much of the incident was captured on video, including on body and surveillance cameras, law enforcement said they were not able to find any footage that showed the retired officer pointing his gun at the kids. The police department's investigation also found that he never fired his weapon, according to police records.
The retired officer, who had once worked with Maddrey in the 73rd Precinct, was arrested and taken to his former station house that night. Footage obtained by The City shows that when he arrived, he asked to speak with Maddrey, who was then overseeing the department’s Community Affairs Bureau. Maddrey came shortly after and authorized police to void the retired officer’s arrest, NYPD documents state.
Forrester could not be reached for comment, and the NYPD did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.
Who is investigating whether Maddrey abused his authority?
First, the Brooklyn DA’s office investigated whether either Maddrey or the retired officer had broken the law and found there wasn’t enough evidence to pursue criminal charges. The NYPD’s internal affairs unit also investigated and determined that Maddrey hadn’t violated department policy.
Next, the watchdog agency that investigates complaints against the NYPD looked into the incident. That agency, called the Civilian Complaint Review Board, investigates some claims against police accused of breaking department policy, including excessive use of force, abuse of authority, discourtesy and offensive language.
In this case, the agency found Maddrey did abuse his authority, and then-NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell agreed with the board’s recommended discipline, according to a Civilian Complaint Review Board spokesperson. Maddrey didn’t want to accept the penalty, so the watchdog agency will present its evidence in a disciplinary trial.
Maddrey’s attorney, Lambros Lambrou, asked a judge last week to dismiss the case. He called his client an “experienced supervisor” and argued Maddrey was trying to fix the mistake of a “newly minted” sergeant who rushed to arrest an “innocent man.” He also noted that the sergeant who made the initial arrest was later chastised for failing to conduct a thorough investigation.
Lambrou said the Civilian Complaint Review Board shouldn’t be weighing in on an “internal NYPD matter,” which he said didn’t harm any members of the public.
Nicole Napolitano, the oversight agency’s former policy director, said Maddrey’s case “absolutely does affect the public” — especially the kids at the center of the incident. She said Maddrey abused his authority by making “justice much less likely for members of the public.” Whether Maddrey’s trial moves forward could determine whether the watchdog agency can investigate cases like these, where a supervisor is making decisions behind closed doors — not on the street, while directly interacting with the public.
“I'm not really sure how it's going to shake out,” she said. “But it's definitely a pivotal decision, because it'll shape how the CCRB is going to be able to do things in the future.”
The boys’ attorney, MK Kaishian, said in an email that Maddrey “caused harm that can never be fully undone” and that her clients want him to face consequences.
“They have also been forced to contend with the effects of significant trauma, housing relocations and constant fear since November 2021 because of the conduct of two grown men and the systems that are designed to protect the powerful,” she said.
What’s at stake for Maddrey?
If an administrative law judge finds that Maddrey abused his authority, he could be docked up to 20 vacation days. A Civilian Complaint Review Board spokesperson said that the agency is recommending that he lose 10 days but is open to negotiating a lesser penalty if he agrees to accept responsibility.
But this is about more than just lost vacation days. Maddrey is now one of the most powerful people in the nation’s largest police department — a job that comes with both major responsibility and major scrutiny from the public. He’s regularly seen at press conferences and public events, as well as behind the scenes. Napolitano said allowing a high-ranking officer like Maddrey to avoid discipline could sow distrust — both among members of the public and lower-ranking officers who feel the top brass is held to a different standard. She said it’s important for the NYPD to send a message that officers of any rank will be held accountable when they break the rules.
Jillian Snider, a former NYPD officer who worked under Maddrey, said members of the rank and file hold the chief in high regard. If the case proceeds, she said, it will frustrate officers who already see the police watchdog agency as “overzealous” and politically motivated. She thinks the Civilian Complaint Review Board wants to make an example of a high-ranking officer.
“I don't disagree with the mission of CCRB, but I think that they are pursuing this the way they are because it is a chief,” said Snider, who now teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “And I think that if these allegations were against lower ranking personnel, I don't think that the CCRB would be pursuing this to the extent that they are.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the police oversight agency said one of its guiding principles is that no officer is above the law and that dismissing the charges would send a message that high-ranking officers play by a different set of rules.
Maddrey’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
What happens next?
Now that Maddrey’s attorney has asked for the case to be dismissed, Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado will have to decide whether she agrees with the attorney or with the Civilian Complaint Review Board. If she sides with Maddrey and his lawyer, this whole saga could come to an end within the next few weeks. If not, the trial is now scheduled to begin in early August — barring any further delays.
Assuming that the trial happens, Maldonado will be tasked with deciding whether Maddrey abused his power and should face discipline. But whatever she finds will only be a recommendation. The NYPD’s police commissioner has the final say for discipline, and commissioners have often ignored the Civilian Complaint Review Board's recommendations — or sometimes even intervened before a case goes to trial.
This story has been updated to reflect additional information provided by a Civilian Complaint Review Board spokesperson.
Tagged
new york city
public safety
brooklyn
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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