NEW YORK: The highest-ranking uniformed officer in the New York Police Department has resigned amid allegations that he demanded sex from a subordinate in exchange for opportunities to earn extra pay.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch accepted Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey’s resignation on Friday night, effective immediately, according to a department statement on Saturday.
Chief of Patrol John Chell will take over as the interim chief of the department, and Philip Rivera will assume Chell’s duties as the head of the patrol division, the NYPD said.
Late on Saturday, Tisch replaced the head of the internal affairs bureau, which investigates alleged police misconduct, saying in a statement that the unit “must always be dedicated to preserving integrity and rooting out corruption in all its forms”. She appointed Edward Thompson as the interim chief after Miguel Iglesias was relieved of his command.
The NYPD declined to comment on the allegations against Maddrey other than to say it “takes all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously and will thoroughly investigate this matter”.
A lawyer for his accuser, Lt Quathisha Epps, said the move was overdue.
“This should have been done a long time ago,” lawyer Eric Sanders said by phone on Saturday. “This has been years in the making, this kind of behaviour. This is not shock for anyone who understands how things work in this department.”
On Saturday, Epps filed a complaint against the city with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming that Maddrey engaged in “quid pro quo sexual harassment” by coercing her to “perform unwanted sexual favours in exchange for overtime opportunities in the workplace”.
Epps, who holds an administrative post in Maddrey’s office, said that when she finally pushed back at Maddrey’s demands, he retaliated by claiming she was abusing overtime, prompting the department to launch a review.
Sanders said his client was then suspended without pay despite putting in her retirement notice earlier this week.
Epps was the department’s top earner in fiscal year 2024, earning more than USD 400,000, according to local media reports — more than half of it in overtime pay.
“Ms Epps has endured profound harm at the hands of individuals who exploited their positions of power for personal gain,” Sanders said in a statement. “The retaliation she faced for standing up to this abuse underscores the need for immediate reforms to address systemic failures within the NYPD.”
Spokespersons for the department declined to comment on the complaint, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said it is investigating.
“These are extremely serious and disturbing claims that allegedly occurred at NYPD headquarters in Manhattan,” the office said in a statement.
Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain, said at an unrelated event on Saturday that the allegations against Maddrey were “extremely concerning and alarming” and that the department was conducting a full review, the New York Post reported.
Maddrey’s attorney, Lambros Lambrou, did not respond to a request for comment on the various allegations. However, in a statement to the New York Post, he dismissed Epps’ claims as “completely meritless”.
“What a convenient time to accuse somebody of misconduct after she is caught stealing time,” Lambrou told the paper. “She is obviously drowning and in the deep end of the pool without a lifesaver. She wants to take down as many people as she can.”
Sanders responded that any overtime his client worked was at the request of Maddrey and approved by him and other department officials.
Meanwhile, Maddrey has been the subject of other misconduct allegations, including one from a police captain who says she rebuffed with his unwanted advances for years.