A former prime NYPD lawyer sued the division, Mayor Eric Adams and two former officers Wednesday, alleging they fired her in retaliation after she decided that the pressure’s prime uniformed chief must be penalized for misusing his authority.
Amy Litwin, the previous head of the Division Advocate’s Workplace, stated former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban ousted her from the division two months after she wrote a 19-page report arguing that then-Chief of Division Jeffrey Maddrey ought to face disciplinary expenses for voiding the arrest of a retired cop in Brooklyn — an incident uncovered by THE CITY.
The lawsuit says that not solely did Caban ignore the advice, however that Maddrey — an in depth good friend of the mayor’s — was sitting in Caban’s workplace when Litwin was terminated in August 2023, despite the fact that he had no oversight over her civilian function.
The submitting additionally alleges Litwin confronted different situations of strain from Caban, when he beforehand served as first deputy commissioner in command of officer self-discipline below Adams from January 2022 to June 2023, to scale back the really useful penalties for sure NYPD members who had dedicated misconduct.
“Ms. Litwin — who was in charge of recommending discipline at the NYPD — had her career ripped away from her simply for doing her job,” stated Litwin’s legal professional, Sarena Townsend.
“Time after time, she resisted intense pressure from Mayor Adams’ inner circle to “cheapen” or ignore penalties for Adams’ clique,” added Townsend. “And when Ms. Litwin dared to try to hold Adams’ Chief of Department, Jeffrey Maddrey, responsible for his criminal activity and reported that activity to the NYPD Commissioner, that was the last straw — she was terminated.”
Former NYPD Chief of Division Jeffrey Maddrey, middle, attends a criminal offense briefing with Mayor Eric Adams, April 3, 2024. Credit score: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
The swimsuit alleges a number of violations of civil service legal guidelines, together with protections towards retaliation.
A spokesperson for the mayor, Kayla Mamelak Altus, denied the mayor was concerned in Litwin’s termination and stated the administration will reply additional in court docket.
“Let’s be clear, Mayor Adams never directed the former police commissioner to terminate this individual — who he does not know,” she stated. “As with any administration, agency leaders — including those at the NYPD — have every right to hire, promote, and dismiss employees for critical roles.”
Attorneys for Caban and Maddrey didn’t reply to requests for touch upon the lawsuit, which was first reported by Gothamist.
Caban resigned as police commissioner in September 2024 after the FBI raided his house and his twin brother’s, and Maddrey resigned in December 2024 after a subordinate accused him of coercing sexual favors from her in alternate for extra time alternatives.
Maddrey wasn’t suspended from the division till this January, on the identical day the FBI raided his house, below present NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
That was greater than three years after THE CITY first uncovered the incident that precipitated Litwin’s advice that Maddrey face official self-discipline for abusing his authority.
In November 2021, THE CITY revealed that Maddrey had voided the arrest of ex-cop Kruythoff Forrester for allegedly menacing three children with a gun on the streets of Brownsville, Brooklyn. That reporting culminated in a video investigation, printed 17 months later, that captured dramatic pictures of Forrester chasing the youths on Thanksgiving eve, being arrested and charged, and inside the hour, getting launched after a late-night go to to the 73rd Precinct stationhouse by Maddrey, then chief of the Group Affairs Bureau.
On the video’s climax, Forrester, who had served within the precinct below Maddrey, is seen being launched from a precinct jail cell and joyfully greeting his former boss within the foyer a short while later.
Litwin’s lawsuit claims public consideration to the incident was rumored to have delayed Maddrey’s deliberate rise to chief of the uniformed pressure below Adams, a longtime good friend who took workplace as mayor in January 2022.
In April 2023, a month after THE CITY printed its video investigation, the town’s Civilian Grievance Overview Board discovered that Maddrey had abused his authority by intervening in Forrester’s arrest, and really useful that he be docked 10 trip days for misconduct.
The lawsuit says the board requested Litwin to evaluation its findings, which contradicted the NYPD Inner Affairs Bureau’s earlier discovering that Maddrey and Brooklyn North Chief Scott Henderson, who additionally turned up on the precinct that Thanksgiving eve, had acted appropriately within the case.
Even after the board’s discovering, Adams publicly defended Maddrey, as he had performed beforehand throughout his tenure as mayor.
“Litwin was conscious that any advice for self-discipline by her workplace could be
particularly fraught as a result of Maddrey was not solely the highest-ranking uniformed member of the NYPD, one among solely two members holding the rank of 4-Stars, but additionally an in depth good friend of and confidant to Mayor Adams, who had personally chosen Maddrey to grow to be the Chief of Division regardless of Maddrey’s in depth documented disciplinary historical past,” the lawsuit says.
It contends that she nearly instantly confronted strain from Caban to hurry up her evaluation of the case and supply a advice on whether or not the division ought to search self-discipline towards Maddrey. Litwin produced a 19-page report that the lawsuit says confirmed there had been possible trigger to arrest Forrester, and agreed with the board’s discovering that Maddrey had abused his authority.
In truth, the submitting states, Litwin really useful harsher self-discipline for Maddrey than the board had sought, and that she forwarded her advice to Caban on Might 2, 2023. Caban produced a three-page report of his personal to then-Commissioner Keechant Sewell, arguing for no self-discipline. Inside a day or two, in keeping with the lawsuit, Litwin was known as to current her findings to Sewell, who had remaining say over disciplinary motion.
In late Might, Sewell directed that Maddrey be disciplined with the lack of 10 trip days, regardless of strain {that a} supply stated she was receiving from Metropolis Corridor to forgo self-discipline, in keeping with earlier reporting by THE CITY.
Maddrey refused to just accept the penalty, which set the case on target for an administrative disciplinary trial.
On June 12, 2023, Sewell resigned as police commissioner and Adams changed her with Caban, whose father the mayor had lengthy been shut with courting again to the times when each served within the NYPD.
Two months later, Litwin was terminated by Caban in Maddrey’s presence, in keeping with her lawsuit — and, she claims, with the mayor’s help.
“The decision to fire Litwin was made with the express and/or implied authority and consent of Mayor Adams,” the grievance alleges.
In August 2024, Maddrey walked away from the entire affair with out a trial or self-discipline after Caban agreed with an NYPD administrative decide’s discovering that the CCRB lacked the purview to deliver abuse of authority expenses towards Maddrey.
Maddrey’s resignation got here three months later amid the sex-for-overtime allegations.
In her swimsuit, with out elaborating on the main points, Litwin additionally alleges that she was requested to hurry up her critiques, change her advice or scale back the self-discipline really useful in circumstances involving Caban associates.
She charged as properly that she was requested to return Caban allies who have been suspended whereas below investigation to common obligation after a decreased time.
She contrasted these actions with what she stated then NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea advised her when he employed her in 2020, in keeping with the lawsuit, which was “that she should always do what she believed was right.”
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