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This database was last updated in July 2020 and is no longer being updated. Data on this page may be out of date.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

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Force: Pepper Spray

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

266

Complaints

297

Allegations

324

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
Joseph Matzinger	Captain	White male	Black male, 24 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2013
Michael Lipetri	Deputy Inspector	White male	Black female, 19 years old	Unsubstantiated	2012
Gerard Delprete	Detective	White male	Black male, 21 years old	Exonerated	2012
Anthony Davila	Detective	Hispanic male	Black female, 17 years old	Exonerated	2008
Mohammed Rios	Detective	Hispanic male	Black male, 34 years old	Unsubstantiated	2017
Thomas Ramirez	Detective	Hispanic male	White female, 18 years old	Unsubstantiated	2014
Matthew Zito	Detective	White male	Black male, 27 years old	Exonerated	2012
Thomas Ramirez	Detective	Hispanic male	White male, 23 years old	Exonerated	2014
Katia Jasmin	Detective	Black female	Refused female, 27 years old	Substantiated (Command Discipline B)	2018
Katia Jasmin	Detective	Black female	Black female, 38 years old	Substantiated (Command Discipline B)	2018
Andrew Nash	Detective	White male	Black male, 22 years old	Exonerated	2018
Tyler Ehrlein	Detective	White male	Hispanic male, 24 years old	Exonerated	2011
Shante Terrell	Detective	Black male	Black male, 29 years old	Unsubstantiated	2006
Anthony Davila	Detective	Hispanic male	Black female, 17 years old	Exonerated	2009
Katia Jasmin	Detective	Black female	Not available female	Substantiated (Command Discipline B)	2018
Timothy Heines	Detective	White male	Hispanic male, 28 years old	Exonerated	2002
Katia Jasmin	Detective	Black female	Unknown not described, 24 years old	Substantiated (Command Discipline B)	2018
Ricardo Bocachica	Detective	Hispanic male	Hispanic male, 32 years old	Substantiated (Command Discipline)	2007
James Mccullough	Detective	White male	Hispanic male, 37 years old	Exonerated	2015
John Livingston	Detective	White male	Black male, 36 years old	Unsubstantiated	2012
David Terrell	Detective	Black male	Black male, 17 years old	Unsubstantiated	2011
Ramon Munoz	Detective	Hispanic male	Black male, 19 years old	Exonerated	1999
Thomas Ramirez	Detective	Hispanic male	White female, 18 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2014
Byran Pitts	Detective	Black male	Hispanic male, 53 years old	Exonerated	2013
Anthony Henry	Lieutenant	White male	Refused female, 22 years old	Exonerated	2004
Michael Doyle	Lieutenant	White male	Black male, 31 years old	Exonerated	2013
Johnny Orellana	Lieutenant	Hispanic male	Black male, 38 years old	Unsubstantiated	2012
Steven Weiss	Lieutenant	White male	Black male, 24 years old	Exonerated	2013
Christophe Schmidt	Lieutenant	White male	Hispanic male, 36 years old	Unsubstantiated	2011
Christophe Schmidt	Lieutenant	White male	Black male, 42 years old	Exonerated	2006
Joseph Hayward	Lieutenant	White male	Hispanic male, 15 years old	Exonerated	2012
Raymond Festino	Lieutenant	White male	Hispanic female, 32 years old	Exonerated	2008
Jay Rivera	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 48 years old	Exonerated	2015
Fitzroy Vigilance	Police Officer	Black male	Not available	Exonerated	1999
Christophe White	Police Officer	White male	Black female, 27 years old	Unsubstantiated	2010
John Ferrara	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 33 years old	Exonerated	2008
Hector Vargas	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Refused male, 37 years old	Exonerated	2015
Erik Rubinstein	Police Officer	White male	Other Race male, 31 years old	Exonerated	2009
Timothy Kraft	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 25 years old	Exonerated	2015
Ray Dutton	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 22 years old	Exonerated	2005
Cesar Polanco	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 23 years old	Exonerated	2004
Carlos Martinez	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Hispanic male, 29 years old	Exonerated	2010
Joseph Bermudez	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 21 years old	Unsubstantiated	2011
Evan Mele	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Unknown	Substantiated (Command Discipline A)	2017
Kevin Cox	Police Officer	Black male	Black male, 29 years old	Unsubstantiated	2014
Brian Farrelly	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 15 years old	Exonerated	2005
Carlos Nieves	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 18 years old	Exonerated	2010
Brian Farrelly	Police Officer	White male	White male, 19 years old	Exonerated	2003
Ralph Gonzalez	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 24 years old	Exonerated	2005
Jesse Trap	Police Officer	White male	Black female, 16 years old	Substantiated (Command Discipline B)	2018
Davis Santiago	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 40 years old	Exonerated	2011
Dalsh Veve	Police Officer	Black male	Black female, 67 years old	Exonerated	2015
Brian Motyka	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 33 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2009
Joseph Foss	Police Officer	White male	Black female, 36 years old	Substantiated (Formalized Training)	2016
Timothy Schultz	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 36 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2006
Christophe Winiarz	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 26 years old	Exonerated	2007
Theresa Callahan	Police Officer	White female	Black male, 26 years old	Exonerated	2007
Ray Dutton	Police Officer	White male	White female, 52 years old	Exonerated	2015
Jonathan Hom	Police Officer	Asian male	White male, 31 years old	Exonerated	2011
Jose Vasquezmiranda	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 31 years old	Exonerated	2007
Anthony Gulotta	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 29 years old	Exonerated	2006
Brian Coffey	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 55 years old	Exonerated	2016
Daryl Melhado	Police Officer	Black male	Black female, 24 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2009
Evan Mele	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black female, 23 years old	Substantiated (Command Discipline A)	2017
Evan Mele	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 30 years old	Substantiated (Command Discipline A)	2017
Leonardo Viera	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 20 years old	Exonerated	2017
David Sammarco	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 25 years old	Exonerated	2006
Evan Mele	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Not available male	Substantiated (Command Discipline A)	2017
Andres Rodriguez	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Unknown male, 20 years old	Exonerated	2004
Christophe Ianno	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 30 years old	Exonerated	2010
Kervelin Ramirez	Police Officer	Hispanic female	Black female, 22 years old	Exonerated	2007
James Lagaris	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic female, 47 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2014
Jaime Santiago	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 23 years old	Exonerated	2011
Eloy Sanchez	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 44 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2002
Scott Berger	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 29 years old	Exonerated	2013
Kappa Farid	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 29 years old	Substantiated (Command Discipline B)	2015
Cesar Gomez	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Hispanic male, 20 years old	Exonerated	2007
Michael Rivera	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Unknown male, 41 years old	Exonerated	2005
Anthony Pizzo	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 24 years old	Exonerated	2003
Daniel Castaldo	Police Officer	White male	Not available	Unsubstantiated	2019
John Zorrilla	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 36 years old	Substantiated (Command Discipline B)	2015
Kenneth Oconnor	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 17 years old	Exonerated	2001
Matthew Palmieri	Police Officer	White male	Not available	Exonerated	2011
Joel Crooms	Police Officer	Black male	Black female, 67 years old	Exonerated	2015
Thomas Napolitano	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 27 years old	Exonerated	2008
Julian Coston	Police Officer	Black male	Black male, 34 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2008
John Zorrilla	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 28 years old	Exonerated	2014
Avidan Santiago	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Unknown male	Exonerated	2014
Evan Mele	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Not available male	Substantiated (Command Discipline A)	2017
John Roberts	Police Officer	White male	Black female, 34 years old	Exonerated	2003
Yasmin Hicks	Police Officer	Black female	Black female, 24 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2004
Joel Roman	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 31 years old	Exonerated	2006
Dennis Russo	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 33 years old	Exonerated	2003
Ramiro Burgarelli	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Unknown male, 28 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2008
Kyle Stanley	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 48 years old	Exonerated	2015
Migdalia Ramos	Police Officer	Hispanic female	White male, 31 years old	Exonerated	2009
Ricardo Bocachica	Police Officer	Hispanic male	Black male, 48 years old	Exonerated	2005
Christian Addison	Police Officer	White male	Black male, 29 years old	Substantiated (Charges)	2004
Kyle Stanley	Police Officer	White male	Hispanic male, 24 years old	Unsubstantiated	2012
Pete Massa	Police Officer	White male	Black female	Exonerated	1999

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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.