Abuse of Authority: FRISK AND/OR SEARCH - The NYPD Files

Search Thousands of Civilian Complaints Against New York City Police Officers

This database was last updated in July 2020 and is no longer being updated. Data on this page may be out of date. For more recent information, visit the city's database of civilian complaints against the NYPD.

Search for Officer by Name or Badge Number

Look Up a Precinct or Unit

Abuse of Authority: Frisk And/Or Search

This page contains all allegations assigned to this category by the CCRB. Multiple similar allegations can appear for the same officer because a complaint received from a civilian can include multiple allegations.

Officers With Complaints

176

Complaints

203

Allegations

241

What the CCRB’s Conclusions Mean

Substantiated: The alleged conduct occurred and it violated the rules. (Here is a breakdown of the types of discipline the CCRB can recommend. The NYPD can choose to ignore those recommendations. It has discretion over what, if any, discipline is imposed.)

Exonerated: The alleged conduct occurred but did not violate the NYPD’s rules, which often give officers significant discretion over use of force.

Unsubstantiated: The CCRB has fully investigated but could not affirmatively conclude both that the conduct occurred and that it broke the rules.

Officer	Rank at Time of Complaint	Officer Details	Complainant Details	CCRB Conclusion	Year Received
John Rajan	Sergeant	Asian male	Hispanic male, 18 years old	Exonerated	2002
Clifton Clarke	Police Officer	Black male	Black male, 21 years old	Exonerated	2002
Paul Mcmahon	Lieutenant	White male	Hispanic male, 17 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2002
Paul Mcmahon	Lieutenant	White male	Hispanic male, 19 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2002
Darnay Harris	Police Officer	Black male	Black male, 36 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2002
Darnay Harris	Police Officer	Black male	Black male, 28 years old	Unsubstantiated	2002
David Demelia	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 38 years old	Unsubstantiated	2002
David Cheesewright	Sergeant	Asian male	Black male, 29 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2002
Noelle Cunningham	Police Officer	White female	Black male, 16 years old	Exonerated	2002
Thomas Tergesen	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 30 years old	Exonerated	2002
Christophe Schmidt	Sergeant	White male	Black male, 14 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2002
Andrew Puglisi	Sergeant	White male	Hispanic male, 20 years old	Exonerated	2002
Thomas Woods	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 30 years old	Unsubstantiated	2002
Theodore Lauterborn	Sergeant	White male	Black male, 17 years old	Unsubstantiated	2002
Herbert Martin	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 30 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2002
Patrick Cherry	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 29 years old	Unsubstantiated	2002
David Powers	Detective	White male	Black male, 41 years old	Unsubstantiated	2002
Thomas Woods	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 30 years old	Exonerated	2002
Kenneth Aube	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 37 years old	Exonerated	2002
Christophe Cooke	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 17 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2002
Robert Henderson	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 25 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2002
Hugh Mchugh	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 14 years old	Exonerated	2002
Kevin Kenny	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 27 years old	Exonerated	2002
David Casey	Detective	Asian male	Other Race male, 32 years old	Unsubstantiated	2002
Kenneth Anderson	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 43 years old	Unsubstantiated	2002
Alexander Grandstaff	Police Officer	White male	Black female, 48 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2002
Herbert Martin	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 16 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2002
Herbert Martin	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 28 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2002
Dana Czvekus	Police Officer	White female	Black male, 14 years old	Exonerated	2002
Andrew Hatki	Lieutenant	White male	Black male, 26 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Christopher McCormack	Sergeant	White male	Black male, 22 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Joseph Stynes	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 32 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
John Quigley	Police Officer	White male	White male, 63 years old	Exonerated	2003
Patrick Brown	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 28 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Richard Warner	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 37 years old	Exonerated	2003
Hector Rodriguez	Detective	Hispanic male	Black male, 28 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Robert Mamys	Sergeant	White male	Black male, 18 years old	Substantiated (Command Discipline)	2003
Timothy Skretch	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 34 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Donald Kipp	Sergeant	White male	Black male, 15 years old	Exonerated	2003
Michael Mendez	Detective	Hispanic male	White male, 44 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Anthony Pizzo	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 14 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Michael Dannecker	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 13 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Thomas Tergesen	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 43 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
John Fogelman	Detective	White male	Black male, 24 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
John Fogelman	Detective	White male	Black male, 26 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Patrick Cherry	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 19 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Joseph Delduca	Sergeant	White male	Black female, 39 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Keith Walker	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 17 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Christopher McCormack	Sergeant	White male	Black male, 25 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Christopher McCormack	Sergeant	White male	Black male, 25 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Christopher McCormack	Sergeant	White male	Hispanic male, 20 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Christopher McCormack	Sergeant	White male	Black male, 41 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Christopher McCormack	Sergeant	White male	Black male	Unsubstantiated	2003
Christopher McCormack	Sergeant	White male	White male, 30 years old	Exonerated	2003
Brian Depalo	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 18 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Fernando Espindola	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 21 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Fernando Espindola	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 21 years old	Exonerated	2003
Bryan Mcnulty	Sergeant	White male	Black male, 38 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Kevin Roughneen	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 43 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Gary Messina	Lieutenant	White male	Black male, 25 years old	Exonerated	2003
Gary Messina	Lieutenant	White male	Black male, 41 years old	Exonerated	2003
Gary Messina	Lieutenant	White male	Black male, 41 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Sean Edwards	Detective	White male	Hispanic male, 25 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
David Nisthaus	Sergeant	Hispanic male	Black male, 26 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Joseph Redmond	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 19 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Andrew Kinsella	Police Officer	White male	White male, 16 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Maricela Galindez	Police Officer	Hispanic female	Black male, 15 years old	Exonerated	2003
Rafael Vega	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 18 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Jose Caban	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Hispanic male, 16 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Kevin Matthews	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 32 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Kevin Matthews	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 32 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Colin Austin	Police Officer	Black male	Hispanic male, 19 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
David Cheesewright	Sergeant	Asian male	Black male, 28 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Michael Ernst	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 51 years old	Exonerated	2003
Alan Gaspard	Detective	Black male	Black male, 32 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Paul Mcmahon	Lieutenant	White male	Black male, 29 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Jason Levy	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 17 years old	Exonerated	2003
Roberto Melendez	Sergeant	Hispanic male	Black male, 31 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Fabio Nunez	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Hispanic male, 15 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Mario Morales	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 25 years old	Exonerated	2003
Edwin Martinez	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 24 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Robert Falcone	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 26 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Jorge Tavarez	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 48 years old	Exonerated	2003
Julio Delgado	Sergeant	Hispanic male	Black male, 22 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Julio Delgado	Sergeant	Hispanic male	Hispanic female, 28 years old	Exonerated	2003
Dino Tamayo	Sergeant	Hispanic male	Hispanic female, 48 years old	Exonerated	2003
Robert Henderson	Sergeant	White male	Black male, 27 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Robert Henderson	Sergeant	White male	Black male, 27 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Dominick Nasso	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 27 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Christophe Muller	Police Officer	White male	White male, 25 years old	Unsubstantiated	2003
Willie Johnson	Police Officer	Black male	Black male, 27 years old	Exonerated	2003
Rafael Vega	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 27 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2003
Michael Licitra	Lieutenant	White male	Black male, 31 years old	Exonerated	2004
Gary Messina	Lieutenant	White male	Unknown male, 40 years old	Exonerated	2004
Christophe Jones	Detective	Black male	Hispanic male, 17 years old	Exonerated	2004
Peter Guido	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 63 years old	Exonerated	2004
John Zamot	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 26 years old	Exonerated	2004
Jonathan Fox	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 27 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2004
Peter Ievolo	Sergeant	White male	Black male, 22 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2004
Randall Litrell	Police Officer	White male	Unknown male, 26 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2004

‹ Previous 1 2 3 Next ›

About This Data

For decades, disciplinary records of police officers in New York have been shielded from public view. After the state recently repealed the law that had kept the records secret, ProPublica requested and received a database from New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, which investigates allegations of misconduct against NYPD officers. The database lists the name of each officer, the race of the complainant and the officer, a category describing the alleged misconduct, and whether the CCRB concluded the officers’ conduct violated NYPD rules. Police unions have opposed New York City’s plan to make public data about disciplinary investigations.

This database names about 4,000 of the NYPD’s 36,000 active-duty officers. Every officer in the database has had at least one substantiated allegation. We excluded any allegations that CCRB investigators concluded did not occur and were deemed unfounded. We also removed a small number of officers (62) against whom the CCRB had substantiated allegations, but whose substantiated allegations had not gone fully through the NYPD’s administrative prosecution process. The CCRB was not able to reach conclusions in many cases, in part because the investigators must rely on the NYPD to hand over crucial evidence, such as footage from body-worn cameras. Often, the department is not forthcoming despite a legal duty to cooperate in CCRB investigations. The CCRB gets thousands of complaints per year but substantiates a tiny fraction of them. Allegations of criminal conduct by officers are typically investigated not by the CCRB but by state or federal prosecutors in conjunction with the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau or the FBI. The NYPD’s own findings in cases in this database are not included here.

Read more about what we’ve included in the database and why, and see our answers to questions we have received about this data. If you have information about any of these officers or cases, please fill out our form.

All of the records in this data are from closed cases. But if you see an error, contact the CCRB. If the agency updates its records and lets us know, we'll do so as well.

The data used in this database is downloadable from ProPublica’s Data Store.

Source

This data was obtained through a records request made to the CCRB. It includes fully investigated allegations only for officers who were members of the department as of late June 2020 and against whom the CCRB has substantiated at least one allegation.