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This database was last updated in July 2020 and is no longer being updated. Data on this page may be out of date.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.

Abuse of Authority: Threat Of Arrest

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
1,043
Complaints
1,266
Allegations
1,409

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
Larry Meyers Lieutenant White male Not available Unsubstantiated 2018
Aleksandr Pasynkov Sergeant White male Not available male, 16 years old Exonerated 2018
David Shimshi Police Officer White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1994
Bruce Ceparano Captain White male Not available Unsubstantiated 2017
Richard Currao Police Officer White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1993
William Sciara Police Officer White male Not available Substantiated (Instructions) 1996
Jose Peinan Detective Hispanic male Not available Exonerated 2013
Jose Santory Sergeant Hispanic male Not available Exonerated 2019
Gary Messina Lieutenant White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1997
William Diab Lieutenant White male Not available Unsubstantiated 2018
James Biondo Police Officer White male Not available male, 25 years old Exonerated 2018
Anthony Contessa Police Officer White male Not available Exonerated 1998
Joseph Hayes Police Officer White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1998
Joseph Albertini Police Officer White male Not available Unsubstantiated 2002
Patrick Hennessy Police Officer White male Not available Substantiated (Command Discipline) 1997
Jose Cintron Detective Hispanic male Not available male, 47 years old Unsubstantiated 2017
James Mccarthy Sergeant White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1997
Artur Espenberg Police Officer Hispanic male Not available male, 14 years old Unsubstantiated 2018
Anthony Murray Police Officer White male Not available Substantiated (Charges) 1998
William Mcbride Police Officer White male Not available Substantiated (Charges) 1993
Jorge Flores Police Officer Hispanic male Not available Substantiated (Command Discipline A) 2019
Maximo Gomez Police Officer Hispanic male Not available Unsubstantiated 2017
Gregory Butler Police Officer White male Not available Exonerated 1993
Gary Messina Lieutenant White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1997
Joseph Grogan Sergeant White male Not available Exonerated 1997
Ramu Hiller Police Officer Asian male Not available Substantiated (Charges) 2002
Richard Warner Police Officer White male Not available Exonerated 1997
Lawrence Hotaling Police Officer White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1992
Charles Rubenstrunk Police Officer White male Not available Exonerated 2004
David Grieco Sergeant White male Not available male, 18 years old Exonerated 2017
Anna Serrano Police Officer Hispanic female Not available Exonerated 2000
Jhonny Milfort Police Officer Black male Not available male, 46 years old Exonerated 2017
James Fogarty Police Officer White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1993
Thomas Wright Police Officer Black male Not available Unsubstantiated 2004
Charles Scholl Sergeant White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1986
Fabio Nunez Detective Hispanic male Not available male Unsubstantiated 2018
Kevin Tierney Police Officer White male Not available Exonerated 2007
Joseph Padula Police Officer White male Not available male, 35 years old Exonerated 2005
Malachi Mckenith Police Officer Black male Not available male Substantiated (Formalized Training) 2017
Michael Catusco Lieutenant White male Not available male, 48 years old Exonerated 2006
Keith Chatterton Police Officer White male Not available Exonerated 2004
Roberson Tunis Police Officer Black male Not available Unsubstantiated 2010
Aubrey Henry Police Officer Black male Not available Exonerated 1995
Matthew Lamendola Police Officer White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1997
Matthew Lamendola Police Officer White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1996
Douglas Lansing Police Officer White male Not available Exonerated 1998
William Dunn Police Officer White male Not available Exonerated 1998
Lowez Walker Police Officer Black male Not available Exonerated 2005
James Dennedy Police Officer White male Not available Exonerated 1998
Gary Messina Lieutenant White male Not available Exonerated 1995
Gary Messina Lieutenant White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1997
Gary Messina Lieutenant White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1997
Steve Lafortune Police Officer Black male Not available Exonerated 2003
Christophe Lagrasta Police Officer White male Not available Exonerated 1995
Brendan Murphy Police Officer White male Not available female, 28 years old Unsubstantiated 2019
Vitaliy Zelikov Sergeant White male Not available Unsubstantiated 2011
Thomas Cerbone Police Officer White male Not available Substantiated (No Recommendations) 1996
Lowez Walker Police Officer Black male Not available Exonerated 2005
Johnny Orellana Police Officer Hispanic male Not available Unsubstantiated 1998
Ryan Habermehl Police Officer White male Not available Unsubstantiated 2005
David Cheesewright Sergeant Asian male Not available , 60 years old Unsubstantiated 2017
Jonathan Lovera Police Officer Hispanic male Not available Unsubstantiated 2008
Salvatore Lopiccolo Police Officer White male Not available Exonerated 2008
Jose Camacho Police Officer Hispanic male Not available Exonerated 2010
Dana Harge Police Officer Black male Not available Exonerated 2006
Steven Green Police Officer White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1998
Kervelin Ramirez Police Officer Hispanic female Not available female, 34 years old Exonerated 2003
Sasha Rosen Sergeant White male Not available Exonerated 2009
Michael Fahmy Detective White male Not available Unsubstantiated 2010
Anthony Quagliariello Detective White male Not available Substantiated (Charges) 1996
Jeffrey Maddrey Police Officer Black male Not available Substantiated (No Recommendations) 1995
Michael Howery Police Officer White male Not available Substantiated (Command Discipline) 1996
David Sammarco Police Officer White male Not available Unsubstantiated 2008
Joseph Mineo Police Officer White male Not available Exonerated 1998
Elias Nikas Lieutenant White male Not available Exonerated 2002
Brian Mcginn Lieutenant White male Not available Unsubstantiated 2003
Dany Fana Sergeant Hispanic male Not available Unsubstantiated 2017
Shawn Gallagher Police Officer White male Not available Exonerated 1998
Kevin Maloney Police Officer White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1996
Pete Massa Sergeant White male Not available female Unsubstantiated 2014
Thomas Morton Police Officer White male Not available Exonerated 2019
Joseph Tallarine Police Officer White male Not available Substantiated (Charges) 1993
William Seligson Police Officer White male Not available Substantiated (Charges) 1998
Ronald Perez Sergeant Hispanic male Not available male, 21 years old Substantiated (Charges) 2010
Peter Ievolo Police Officer White male Not available Unsubstantiated 1989
Jason Barish Police Officer White male American Indian male, 23 years old Exonerated 2019
Donald Kipp Sergeant White male American Indian male, 32 years old Unsubstantiated 2015
Matthew Wright Police Officer White male Asian male, 41 years old Exonerated 2008
James Titus Police Officer White male Asian male, 19 years old Unsubstantiated 2014
Juby Thomas Police Officer Asian male Asian male, 65 years old Exonerated 2015
Edson Brutus Police Officer Black male Asian female, 25 years old Exonerated 2017
Yael Magori Police Officer White female Asian male, 31 years old Exonerated 2007
Timothy Finn Police Officer Asian male Asian male, 24 years old Substantiated (Command Discipline A) 2016
Derin Devuono Police Officer White male Asian male, 51 years old Exonerated 2004
Anthony Contessa Police Officer White male Asian male, 23 years old Exonerated 2017
Frank Laquidara Sergeant White male Asian male, 44 years old Exonerated 2015
Anthony Jones Police Officer Black male Asian male, 35 years old Exonerated 2019
Darrell Dass Police Officer Asian male Asian male, 52 years old Exonerated 2009
Patrick Cherry Detective White male Asian male, 47 years old Substantiated (Charges) 2015
Avidan Santiago Police Officer Hispanic male Asian female, 34 years old Exonerated 2012
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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.
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