Judge Nixes Disciplinary Case Against Jeffrey Maddrey, NYPD’s Top Uniformed Cop

An NYPD administrative trial judge recommended on Tuesday that the disciplinary case against Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey be dismissed, arguing that the watchdog agency that determined he had abused his authority lacked jurisdiction in the case.

The Civilian Complaint Review Board was set to prosecute Maddrey, the department’s top uniformed cop, next month over a November 2021 incident in which he ordered officers at a Brooklyn precinct to void the arrest of a retired cop who used to work under him.

The ex-officer, Kruythoff Forrester, was arrested by officers in Brownsville’s 73rd Precinct for allegedly menacing three youths with a gun after their basketball dislodged his family’s storefront security camera.

The Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) determined in March 2023 that Maddrey had improperly interfered with Forrester’s arrest. Its prosecution of the case was all but derailed following Tuesday’s ruling by Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado.

She acknowledged it was “unusual” for her to rule on an independent oversight agency’s purview, but still found that the “CCRB lacks jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute the particular allegation of misconduct set forth in this case.”

Maldonado cited language in the city charter that states the CCRB investigates “misconduct by officers of the department towards members of the public,” which she interpreted to necessitate a “direct interface” between the NYPD member and a civilian — and which she said was absent from the Maddrey case.

Her decision was first reported by the New York Post.

Maddrey’s attorney, Lambros Lambrou, made that argument to the administrative judge last month in a last-ditch effort to dismiss the disciplinary trial.

The legal filing came so late in the game that Maldonado acknowledged in her ruling that it arrived after the deadline for pre-trial motions had already passed. But she determined that “the question of whether jurisdiction is established is so fundamental that it must be allowed to be raised, even at this late date.”

Lambrou didn’t respond to an email from THE CITY seeking comment, and Maddrey didn’t respond to a text message.

The judge’s recommendation to dismiss the case will have to be approved by NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, who was appointed just over a year ago by Adams. Caban replaced former Commissioner Keechant Sewell, who resigned shortly after rankling City Hall by seeking to discipline Maddrey for his actions in the case.

Maldonado’s recommendation came a day after The New York Times reported that CCRB interim chair Arva Rice had resigned after being forced out by top level Adams administration officials for her criticism of the police department and of cuts to her agency’s budget.

CCRB spokesperson Clare Platt didn’t comment directly on the question of the agency’s jurisdiction, but said the board believes no one should be above the law.

“We are confident that the Police Commissioner would agree that an officer’s rank should not immunize them from accountability for misconduct,” she said. “The dismissal of these charges sends the opposite message to both members of the NYPD and all New Yorkers.”

Video Investigation

A video investigation published last year by THE CITY showed that Forrester followed the three boys — ages 12, 13 and 14 at the time — for seven minutes after their basketball struck the camera. Forrester acknowledged having his licensed firearm in a holster on his hip that night, but told responding officers repeatedly that he never took it out.

Still, the patrol sergeant from the 73rd Precinct told colleagues that, based on the boys’ matching descriptions of Forrester’s gun and which side Forrester had pulled it from, he had enough evidence to order Forrester’s arrest.

Body-worn camera footage of the arrest shows Forrester immediately invoking the name of “Chief Maddrey,” whom he had formerly worked under and who was then serving as Chief of Community Affairs.

Shortly after Forrester’s arrest, Maddrey and deputy chief Scott Henderson, of Brooklyn North, showed up at the precinct where Forrester was being held.

According to the CCRB investigation, Maddrey told the patrol sergeant that Forrester never should have been arrested, and that the kids should have been hauled in for damaging the store camera. About an hour after arriving at the precinct, Maddrey ordered that Forrester be released and his arrest voided.

The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau investigated the incident and found no wrongdoing.

But the CCRB recommended that Maddrey be disciplined — with a relatively minor loss of at most 10 vacation days — based on the investigative report it released last April.

As THE CITY previously reported, then-NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell agreed that Maddrey should be disciplined despite a clear message from Adams and City Hall that he shouldn’t.

Maddrey opted to take the case to administrative trial rather than accept any discipline, and Sewell resigned shortly afterward.

The NYPD didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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