NYPD Commissioner Sewell reprimands Chief Jeffrey Maddrey for voiding arrest: police sources

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The NYPD’s highest-ranking uniformed officer has been disciplined for voiding an arrest of a retired cop accused of threatening a group of teens with a gun, the Daily News has learned.

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell this week docked NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey between six and 10 vacation days for abuse of authority for voiding the arrest without cause, sources with knowledge of the case said.

The Civilian Complaint Review Board substantiated the charged against Maddrey last month.

Maddrey, in turn, said he will fight Sewell’s finding, setting the stage for a disciplinary trial at police headquarters. The CCRB will be prosecuting the disciplinary case, the police watchdog group confirmed.

When reviewing Maddrey’s latest case, Sewell agreed with the CCRB’s discipline recommendation — something she’s been accused of ignoring in the past.

The decision also puts her at odds with Mayor Adams, a longtime friend and supporter of Maddrey.

This won’t be the first time Maddrey has faced departmental discipline. He was accused in 2017 of lying about an incident in which a retired officer waved a gun at him during an altercation in a Queens park.

But Maddrey kept his job even though NYPD internal affairs investigators believed he “wrongfully impeded an official Department investigation by providing inaccurate or otherwise misleading statements,” documents shared exclusively with the Daily News showed.

In a plea deal that resolved the case, Maddrey agreed to a punishment of 45 lost vacation days.

In his latest case, Maddrey is accused of showing up at the 73rd Precinct stationhouse on Nov. 24, 2021 following a clash between retired NYPD Officer Krythoff Forrester and three teens in Brownsville.

Police had taken Forrester into custody after the teens stated he had chased them with a gun after they struck a security camera at his family’s storefront business with a basketball.

Forrester used to work with Maddrey and began dropping his name to arresting officers, according to The City, which first reported the charges. A short time later, Maddrey, who was chief of the NYPD’s Community Affairs Division at the time, and Brooklyn North Deputy Chief Scott Henderson showed up at the stationhouse.

Within a few hours, Forrester was let go without charges.

A complaint was filed with the CCRB, which substantiated the charges. Under CCRB guidelines, “substantiated” means the board believes there is “sufficient credible evidence” that Maddrey “committed the alleged act without legal justification.”

At the time of the incident, an NYPD spokesman said that Maddrey ordered a full investigation, but Forrester was let go after the teens’ allegations couldn’t be confirmed. The department’s Internal Affairs Bureau also investigated allegations that Maddrey ordered Forrester cut loose, but found no wrongdoing.

When asked about the incident in March, Mayor Adams backed Maddrey’s intervention, claiming Maddrey had “handled it appropriately.”

MK Kaishian, the attorney representing the three teens, called for Maddrey’s resignation.

When reached on Wednesday, a department spokesman said: “The NYPD does not comment on open disciplinary matters.”

Aside from the case involving the Brownsville teens and the Queens park incident, Maddrey has been investigated four times by the CCRB during his decades-long police career, city records show. All four cases involved accusations of abuse of force. None of the cases were substantiated.

Emails to both Maddrey were not immediately returned.