NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey allegedly abused his authority for cutting a former colleague loose after he was arrested for threatening three teens with a gun in Brooklyn, the Civilian Complaint Review Board found.
The charge against Maddrey, the NYPD’s Chief of Department, was substantiated by the CCRB — which determined that Maddrey abused his power by voiding the November 2021 arrest of retired NYPD Officer Krythoff Forrester.
The incident unfolded on Saratoga Avenue when three boys — ages 12, 13 and 14 — accidentally tossed a basketball into a camera set up outside a real estate office owned by Forrester’s family, sources said.
Forrester chased the children, brandished a gun and possibly fired off a shot, sources said.
He was taken into custody by police — but released 45 minutes after Maddrey showed up to the 73rd Precinct and ordered officers to void the arrest.
The penalty for abuse of authority is a command discipline, which carries a maximum punishment in the loss of 10 vacation days, according to the department’s disciplinary matrix.
The families of the threatened kids were relieved by the CCRB’s decision, their attorney, MK Kaishian, said in a statement.
“Maddrey not only leveraged his power to spring a former colleague who had terrorized children with a gun, but he allowed those same children to be vilified and discredited in the media and by his allies in the aftermath of his misconduct,” Kaishian said.
“After carefully reviewing the evidence, the full board deliberated this case and substantiated misconduct against Chief Maddrey,” said CCRB Interim Chair Arva Rice.
“We used the NYPD’s Disciplinary Matrix to determine the recommended discipline and it is now up to the Police Commissioner to hold Chief Maddrey accountable.”
NYPD Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell will ultimately decide whether to accept or refuse the CCRB’s penalty, although refusal could trigger a disciplinary hearing.
The watchdog board’s decision is just a first step, Kaishian, the attorney, said.
“The CCRB how the power to investigate and make findings, but discipline is left to a Department that has long demonstrated open hostility to the Board’s recommendation and any semblance of oversight,” Kaishian said.
Maddrey and Deputy Chief Scott Henderson, who accompanied Maddrey to the precinct on the night Forrester was arrested, should resign, said the attorney, who called for Attorney General Letitia James to open up an investigation into the incident.
Maddrey has had eight complaints leveled against him during his 32-year career and four of those were substantiated, according to a CCRB database.
He was previously docked 45 vacation days in 2017 after he failed to report an incident in which a then-assistant chief he had been having an extra-marital affair with pulled a gun on him.
The woman, Tabatha Foster, sued Maddrey in July 2019 for $100 million claiming she was forced into an abusive sexual relationship with him. The Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit is ongoing.