Schoolcraft v. The City Of New York et al

Filing 225

DECLARATION of Suzanna Publicker Mettham in Support re: 223 MOTION to Compel Graham Rayman to Produce Documents.. Document filed by Christopher Broschart(Tax Id. 915354 in his official capacity), Christopher Broschart(Tax Id. 915354 Individually), Timothy Caughey(Tax Id. 885374 Individually), Timothy Caughey(Tax Id. 885374 in his official capacity), Kurt Duncan(Shield No. 2483, Individually), Kurt Duncan(Shield No. 2483 in his official capacity), William Gough(Tax Id. 919124, Individually), William Gough(Tax Id. 919124, in his Official Capacity), Thomas Hanley(Tax Id. 879761, in his Official Capacity), Thomas Hanley(Tax Id. 879761, Individually), Elise Hanlon(in her official capacity as a lieutenant with the New York City Fire Department), Elise Hanlon(individually), Shantel James(Shield No. 3004 in his official capacity), Shantel James(Shield No. 3004 Individually), Theodore Lauterborn(Tax Id. 897840 in his official capacity), Theodore Lauterborn(Tax Id. 897840, Individually), Michael Marino, Michael Marino, Gerald Nelson(Assistant Chief Patrol Borough Brooklyn North, Tax Id. 912370 in his official capacity), Gerald Nelson(Assistant Chief Patrol Borough Brooklyn North, Tax Id. 912370, Individually), Robert W. O'Hare(Tax Id. 916960, Individually), Robert W. O'Hare(Tax Id. 916960, in his Official Capacity), Frederick Sawyer(Shield No. 2576 in his official capacity), Frederick Sawyer(Shield No. 2576, Individually), Timothy Trainer(Tax Id. 899922, in his Official Capacity), Timothy Trainer(Tax Id. 899922, Individually), Richard Wall, Sondra Wilson(Shield No. 5172, in her Official Capacity), Sondra Wilson(Shield No. 5172, Individually). (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A, # 2 Exhibit B, # 3 Exhibit C, # 4 Exhibit D, # 5 Exhibit E, # 6 Exhibit F, # 7 Exhibit G, # 8 Exhibit H, # 9 Exhibit I, # 10 Exhibit J, # 11 Exhibit K, # 12 Exhibit L, # 13 Exhibit M, # 14 Exhibit N, # 15 Exhibit O)(Mettham, Suzanna)

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EXHIBIT E 40 FR l HC I l; l tion depa patte etly THE NYPD TAPES BED-STUY: DO OR The boss added, "On occasion, he needs to be reminded to dernon_ strare courresy whe' dealing with fi.ustrated civilians, however, his overall demeanor is very respectful." Meyet''s lieutenant, Leighton Myrie, conculred. competent member of the S DIE 41 "PO. Schoolcraft is a lst Precinct. His disposition is consistently cour- teous and we expect great things from PO. Schoolcraft in the future." Pe'haps in some way'eJated to his mother.'s death, schoolcr.aft racked up the most civilian complaints of his career: five in all, but he was found not guilry or the allegation was proved u'substantiatecl in all of them. The cloak of protection was still around him. But in November 2004,he was placed in what was known ,,Level as I fo'ce monitoring" for "negative performance/behavior" until November 2005' This designatio' had two significant elemenrs: one, it meant that Schoolcraft would receive more attention from bosses about his work, and two, it also was a way for his bosses ro conrrol him. Like the Marine Corps drill instructors at Lejeune, the Nypn found ways ro conrrol its officers and insist on their "activiry." By the end of 2005, crime in the Blst Precinct had dropped by 3.5 percent. Commissionel Kelly had sent Impact cops to the area for six months to patrol what was known as the Fulton-Nostrand Avenue business district and then ordered another six-month stint. Community activists started a campaign to change the neighborhood's unofficial motto from "Bed-Stuy l)o or Die" ro "Bed-Stuy and Proud Of It." The effort failed because the original slogan was so internvined with the lore of the area. In April 2006, Schoolcraft made his first formal foray into raising in the command, when issues he wrote a memo to Depury Inspector Robert Brower. about forced overtime. "This 49 is to noti$' you of a serious problem within the precinct, that I feel has now become a chronic safety issue. The problem other But it was all smoke and mirrors. Nothing really came of it, and that outcome would stand in conrrasr to what happened in 2009. At the end of 2004, his patrol sergeant, Michael Miller, gave him a rating of 3.5_or more than competent-sayrng he was "resourceful, never complacent, a well "Forced overtime is issued by department civilians who don't seem ro be ruthl rounded officer capable of fulfilling any task given to him. He is an asser ro rhe concerned about the safery of police officers and the public they serve. I'm Com. department." abilit This trend continued into 2005. schoorcraft's March 2005 monthly evaluation written by Lieutenant De La Fuente read, ,,He is highry by working so many days without a day off .I feel that this policy is leading to vated and a hard worker. He maximizes the limited patror duty lre has.,, In September 2005, he requested and received a rwo-monrh leave to care for his father, who was stiil depressed and seeing a psychologist after the death of suzanne, and to winterize the Johnstown home. Adrian rerurned ro How the commander reacted to this memo is unclear from the record, but nothing changed. Schoolcraft was tilting at windmills. unde ramF for s police craft, thc dr hc sar nary c Il a laws of Ne him ir crcdit r A. Iìa School <l¿rtc ar shcd U duty in mid-November. Adriant personnel record for the year containecr one other entry: that someone filed a complaint that he refused to take a crime reporr. This was ironic given what would take place years later. sergeanr, \X/illiam Meye¡ once again schoolcraft a3.5 ruting. He was again above standarcls, for'þolice ethics/integrity.,, "Po' Schoolcrafrt to work double shifts and/or give up their regular days ofl always at the last moment. also concerned that we could be violating department policy and/or stare law noti- At the end of 2005, his that I'm reporting to you is forced overtime. Police officers are being forced and. he gave got a rale 5 deportment an<J. performance always reflects a high level of integriry" Meyer wrore. "He has proven himself to be a fine officer with great potential." an increase in civilian complaints, sick days, accidents and injuries." Crime dropped in the precinct by 1.9 percent in2006, and Schoolcraft's him a rating of 3.5 on his performance evaluation again. The only black mark in his personnel record was that someone filed a complaint bosses gave disputing a ticket that he wrote. His father was impressed. "He was successful in the N\?D because he could deal in these weird, oppressive environments," Larly Schoolcraft said. Though Schoolcraft was enjoying the good graces of his bosses for the moment, performance evaluations are strange documents. The reality was that much of a police officert job involved interacting with citizens. Those interactions were difficult to quanti$'. How, for example, do you put a number to the fact that a cop picked up a child who had fallen off his bike, ol helped an old lady cross the street, or diffused a brewing street fight THE NYPD TAPEs 44 in the 81st Precinct. tffhen Mauriello was Promoted to preHis name was Steven Mauriello. end of commander a year late¡ it would spell the beginning of the In october 2006, anew I executive officer arrived cinct Schoolcraft's police career. over whether In June 2007 , Adrianhad a confict with a Lieutenant Jones father he was properly authorized to leave work to help his wheelchair-ridden get home from the hosPital. Schoolcraft \Mas so irritated by the exchange that he wrote enother nota- Schoolcraft rized letter to the precinctt commanding ofncer. In the letter, ofÊcers for what alleged that Jones threatened to punish the whole shift of I Schoolcraft did. ti ,,Every dr p1 et ul ra fo ot ru Cr ab Po cfa thr he na: alr of hir cre A. Scl dat she violation that I usually put in the minor violations I'm writing to the CD's for, so yotr can thank somebody for that," Jones said' according letter. "schoolcraft, see me when you're finished"' "This is a formal complaint regarding the conduct of Lt' Jones"' a hostile schoolcraft wrore. "His retaliatory rhreats were intended to create work environment for myself and other officers'" things' By Decembe r 2007, perhaps because he had begun quesdoning but teetering schoolcraft's rating dropped to a 3, which was still at standards, 1 on the edge of unsatisfactory. The precinctt crime rate dropped percent' writFor the year, he had made 620 radio runs, done 71 vertical patrols' numbers rcn 34 tickets, written 6 C summonses, and made 9 arrests' Those were lower than his 2006 totals' In the evaluation Sergeant \Øilliam Meyer wrote: "He at times needs guiddirection or prompdng to resolve problems. He at times needs extra to perform ance ro meet goals and deadlines. He does need extra motivation his evaluhis assignments and meet performance goals." This is the first time ation sank to Pedestrian margins' ISI FI IIt 94 THE NYPD TAPEs police duties, he was chasing a doctorate in philosophy and had two master's degrees. He had been one of the first oÊÊcers sent overseas by Kelly to perform counrerterrorism work and he had been stationed in Amman, Jordan, and Mumbai, India, in 2006, when Al Qaeda operarives killed dozens of people in a series of coordinated attacks. Later, he would be made one of the youngest precinct commanders in the city. Durk told Del Pozo that schoolcraft had evidence of misconduct in the precinct, including downgrading of crime reports and pressure to make quotas. Del Pozo opened a file on Schoolcraftt claims and referred the down- I a grading allegation to the Quality Assurance Division, the NYPD unit that audited crime statistics. Each yeat QAD produced audits of stats in each de precincts in the ciry and also performed special investigations. Its \¡/ofk was very quiet and very closely held by the NYPD. Few people outside Pa the department even knew about the unit. etl september 2, schoolcraft sent a letter to Mauriello asking that the appeal of his evaluation be sent to the Brooklyn North command. Mauriello tic ufl Í^: of the76 on apparently did nothing. fo. And the ball started to roll faster' ot * ru C, ab Pc Cfi th he rL¿ a. of on August 17, a woman walked into the srarion house to rePoft that hef cell phone had been stolen. Mauriello wandered by the desh according to a recording, and initially checked with Schoolcraft about his restricted duty status. Mauriello then brought the woman into his office to talk to her about the phone. "-S?'hat's he saying to her in there right now?" Schoolcraft wondered to himself with amusement, assuming that Mauriello was trying to convince the woman to drop her complaint' "It was a friend, blah, blah, blah." The pressure for numbers continue d, during the overnight shift, as August came to a sergeant a close. Following told his ofÊcers, "Do some hi a shooting cf A communiry visits, C summonses over there, the usual bullshit"' Since "activiry" was tallied on a monthly basis, the final days of August Sr became y€t another chance to harangue cops on their productivity. "It's the d¿ 26th.If you dont have your activity, it would be a really good time to get sf PATIENT NO. le or serious bodily harm" and/ rther persons as manifested by in instances would have 130381874 1,41, of minor misconduct. In most instances, police commanders simply waited until he returned to work and written him up for going home early. ,lice officers: "Any peace officer, duties, or police ofÊcer. . .may be mentally ill and is conduct- kely to result in serious harm to pital had to meet a fairly high -the At worst, the misconduct would have resulted in a suspension and the loss of some vacation days. For some reason, Schoolcraft had received the worst kind of special treatment. Schoolcraft was like Lewis Carroll's Alice. He had been pulled through the looking glass and landed in a world where the standard rules of physics didnt apply, and things were going to get substantially worse' "substantial" or "serious" at any point in the past, made :xpressed a desire to hurt or kill nor had he ever tried to harm behavior. And he had zero prior in an ambulance on his way to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, a private institution overlooking the Van Vyck Expressway that had benefitted greatly from both government backing and the largesse of pri- Schoolcraft was vate donors. One building in the complex was named for developer Donald Thump. sk dury. 'son "may refuse medical atteneved his high blood pressure was ,o refuse to go to the hospital. in law that it * goes back almost ociety of New York Hospital, in g of adult years and sound mind e with his own body." Lieutenant Broschart, who had been ordered to accompany Schoolcraft to the hospital, later told investigators that Schoolcraftt attitude changed in the ambulance. He was cooperative with the paramedics, smiling and answering questions. Schoolcraft remembered it differently. He was still in the chair. He tried to question the paramedics, but they were only interested in checking his conduction. He asked Broschart to remove the handcuffs, but the lieutenant cf emergenc¡ where the patient operate before consent can be cious nor incapable of making told him to wait until they got to the hospital. '!(/'hat is striking about this is that the medical "crisis" that Marino had spun in Adrian's apartment became irrelevant. It wasn't mentioned again. Schoolcraft reached the emergency room after 10 p.m. Other than rr performing care without the a few hospital documents, there is no independent record of the next six days, except for a ten-page single-spaced account Schoolcraft himself wrote' There rpreme Court wrote ìn a 1990 :tent individual's right to refuse deserving the highest order of is no mention in either the Brooklyn North files or the Internal Affairs files of what took place behind the hospital walls. Broschart took Schoolcraft to a gurney, handcuffed him to a railing, and placed him in a hallway under relentless fluorescent lights. rce at his house after he had Iypically, that does not happen Schoolcraft begged Broschart to loosen the cuffs. "I kept asking them, '\Øhy am I under arrest, why am I not free to leave?"' he said. "'\Øhy am PÄTIENT NO. 130381874 155 id. "The Queens County public cor- and meet with the newspaper's bigwigs to demand Levittt firing. The bosses : for southern district, which also does at Newsday wisely ignored the demand. In the email to Levitt, Larry and Adrian detailed the sequence of the pre- nment totally walked away. rùØhatt it vious two months and then wrote, "\Øe both understand if you dont believe ¡. "If we take it, we'll let you know, if this could really happen, either did L" This was an understatement. Levitt later wrote, somewhat regretfully, that at that point, when he received that out," as Larry put it, in an anonymous e recording from Halloween night to -'d a thorough investigation. to help him. "They definitely violated ls down to this: Basically they had a Ln's vested interest in his job, and they first message, he just didnt believe the story. And then Larry and Adrian pulled out of town. They left the hotel room behind, took Amtrak back to Johnstown, and lived in a cramped one-bedroom apartment in a small cookie-cutter complex just off North Comrie Avenue, down the street from Glendat Florist and Greenhouse. It was a retreat, sure, but whether right or wrong, Adrian was concerned that if he remained in the ciry he would be further r their approach. Prior to Halloween internal channels in the NYPD. He rad approached QAD, his father had ffice of the police commissioner. They , the feds, the county prosecutors, the rem had walked away. There was only I only followed by desperate men, and -arry and Adrian, still casting around ;tory wrote to Leonard Levitt, a dean o had broken many big stories in his rf books, including an exposé of the :tha Moxley in a wealthy Connecticut , Yorþ Newsda!, Levitt was writing a necticut home. Levitt and Kelly had :ticularly after Rudy Giuliani picked But when Kelly returned to the com2002, Levitt wrote some unfattering rint, when he was still with Newsday, rfuriated Kelly that the commissioner [ayts Me|viIlo New York, headquarters harassed by the NYPD. But the distance didnt help him. It turned out that the arms of the department were a lot longer than he thought. I 68 rHE NypD -r.A¡,F:s; ln the stucl¡ the rctirecl NYPD bosses tolcj thcrrr rhat cìorlpstat incrcasccl press*rc ro clow'gracle c'ilre cornplair-rts. IJalf of the strpcr.visor.s who r,rspo'clecl to the srLrvey tolcl thenr they h:rd sr:en a crilr.lc complaint altcrccl arld thotrght it was utrethica[. Basccl or thei' sL'vcy, É,rcr.'o a'ci SiÌvcr.rn¿rn concludecl that compst¿rt crime statistics "war-ra'tecr careful scrutiny.,, 'As crilne goes down, the pr.essur.e to maint¿rin boss told the pr.ofessors. ,,It was a nnrnbers it got grent,,, a retired garne.,, l, Kelly's spokesrnan, paul Browne, dismissc. the st'ciy as biased and un.scientific. He claimed, wro'gly it rurr.rs our, t'ar it was paid for by the unions' Aud the pro-NYPD Daiþ News eclitorial boarcl attackecl the two professo's, wriring that they hacr "ribeled dre NypD a'd every police officer who worked his o' her butt off i' the long, rrar.d City safer." "a lo ()f tu (r rl' lr' t ( l. lrt t I fight to make New yorr< The Daily Netus downplayecr the exrenr of statistical manipulation, handful of sr-rperior officers caught in penny ,A[ a'te crocrges.,, as trrose srre- nanigans combined a¡e rnin'scule cor'pared with the plu'ge in crime,,, the News edircúal c.ncluded. "Do Eterno and Silverman believe that the NypI) is Jriding hundreds if not thousancrs of killings? If so, where are the bodies?,, Meanwhile' on February lB, IAI, openea another investigation i'to the fact that schoolcraft was rlor residing within the ciry. This was a vioration of the residency reqr-riremenr' but o'e rhar many porice of6cers, i'crucling police bosses, violate with irnpurrity. Again, it seemed rike the depaltrnent was looking for every bit of reverage with which ro squeeze Schoorcraft. r.' * il.t' on .rl. ol lril ( l( l \ 'ì, lr ,l.rr, .lrt. February 22, schoorc'aft sat dow' with aicres of councirman valrone and ir. Also presenr we'e retirec{ lieutenart Anthony Mirancra, who 'ecorded was the head of the Latino officers Associatio' ancr had remainecr active in police issues' and another retired cop. The purpose of the meeting was ro basically convince vallone ro get invorvecr. o' the recorcli'g, one of his aides told Schoolcraft that rhe co''cirman took the alregatio's very seriousry. "They gorra co'ri'ue to show'ighc' nurnber.s," Mirancia said. ,,Thatt where the abusive narure of compStar comcs i,. It was first just to make commanders aware' Now itì about getting their n*mbers. All these thi'gs neecl to the abtrsc." A GAME OF CAT AND C them that CompStat increased Half of the supervisors who seen a crime complaint altered r survey, Eterno and Silverman arranted careful scrutiny." naintain it got great," a retired ame." Lissed the study as biased and Miranda added, "If you, NYPD and every police officer , hard fight to make New York t of statistical manipulation, as ny ante dodges." "All those she- Iwith the plunge in crime," the lverman believe that the NYPD gs? If so, where are the bodies?" d another investigation into the it seemed like the department rich to squeeze Schoolcraft. r cop, file complaints, there's more of a ten- becomes part of the it. And that ruins a person's career'" Schoolcraft chimed in: "Being referred to psych services is like being thrown down into a well and trying to climb out with a shoe string." Miranda suggested Vallone create a website where cops could provide "Mmhm. \(/e information on downgrading. "Mmhm," Vallone's aide said. have to get ready for 5 o'clock. Thanks for coming by'" The other aide asked about Adrian's status' "Screwed," he said. "They're probably going to fire me' But I'll probably acquiring court be able to be a big help to Mr. Vallone in my civil suit in have some safe guarorders. so perhaps that can be of help. I would like to antee. PerhaPs you can ask Mr. Vallone." "Yeah, we'll be in touch," the aide said, almost dismissively' vallone Despite what was said in the meeting, it went nowhere tangible. it did nothing of consequence afterward, and, to the Schoolcrafts' served supposed to yet another example that the people and agencies who were didnt moniror the NYPD were not willing to do their jobs. The schoolcrafts as hear from Vallone's office again. * n the city. This was a violation many police officers, including T69 to refer you to psych services. If you arent hitting the quota, that dency )ut, that it was paid for by the litorial board attacked the two as a MOUSE In had late March 2010, largely because they thought the press coverage New Yorþ too narrow, the schoolcrafts contacted Paul Moses, a former been Brooklyn College' who Newsday editor and rePorter teaching journalism at the Vilkge Voice. Sch an excerPt from a taP aides of Councilman Vallone Itenant Anthony Miranda, who ion and had remained active in purpose of the meeting was to n the recording, one of his aides re allegations very seriously. umbers," Miranda said. "Thatt in. It was first just to make their numbers. All these things res ery comPlaints in the to the detective squad, on my hope to collaborate with you on reporting the whole story wrote' investigations, objectivel¡ without misquotes," Schoolcraft email, he wrote' "Nothing has changed regarding my status' "I In a second Pay me or Êre On suspension, and they wont give me a department trial ' ' ' me. . . I'm never quitting. .. Never!" I drove up to There was an initial correspondence by email' and then Johnstown on March 16. THE NYPD TAPES 170 The town was clearly depressed, stuck benveen the last vestiges of indusrry, a modest farm community, and the inevitable \Øalmart and chain stores that contrive to suck the life from any small town. The Schoolcrafts lived in a small cookie-cutter aparrment complex that looked like it had been thrown up in a week. Their one-bedroom apartmenr was disheveled and messy. The kitchen was piled with dirty dishes. There was somerhing of a dog smell. The carper was worn and pitted. A luzzy television buzzed in the background. Larry slept on a sofa. Adrian had the bedroom, which contained a desk, a chair, a mattress on the floor, and plastic containers of papers and computef parts. After the interview, Adrian walked outside for a couple of photos. He was using a cane. "How many recordings do you have?" I asked. "Oh, about 1,000 hours," Adrian replied. "Roll calls, patrol, the locker room, stuff in the station house." "IJm, over how long?" 'About 18 months." I paused to take this in for a moment. No police officer in NYPD history had ever recorded 1,000 hours inside a precinct on his own. Sure, officers involved in undercover Internal Affairs investigations had done more lim- ited recordings. But this was unprecedented. Schoolcraft had done it alone. Most cops would have been put off by the danger of getting caught. And he wanted it to go public. 'A lot of it is personal conversations between cops about their wives and girlfriends, and stuff like rhat, and I don't think any of that should be put in the paper," Schoolcraft added. There was more discussion, and then I you send me the roll calls on a disk, and we'll suggested, "'Sl'ell, why dont see what's rhere." Schoolcraft agreed. A couple of days after this visit, a single CD arrived in an envelope at my office at the village wice. rt took weeks for me to transcribe the recordings into coherent form and then make sense of them. On May 4 andMay 11, the d sl part series with the recordings Voice published the first two articles as the centerpiece. in a five- The first article examined crime stat manipulation and quotas. The second article looked at whether cer- tain orders given by precinct bosses led to civil rights violations on rhe street. THE NYPD TAPEs 240 Larry Schoolcraft said. "\Øe lost some momentum there, but we didn't really noticed that until much latet'." By October 1, the Schoolcrafts were so frustrated they were talking about firing their lawyers. "They haveni done shit for two years, and now they just want to rush everything," Larry fumed on October 1, a coolish Monday afternoon. "They want to barebones it and shove it in front of a jury, They keep saying this case is not an indictment of the NYPD, but it is." They were also upset that Norinsberg couldn't stop Sweet from ordering Adrian to be deposed for "It all comes a third time. down to communication," Larry said. "This case is too important." Schoolcraft, having already been deposed once, was set to be deposed twice more on October I I and October 25. Meanwhile, not one of the city's witnesses had been deposed by Norinsberg. On October 14, after Adrian returned from that second deposition with the city, father and son had had enough of their lawyers. That Sunday after- noon, they sat down and drafted from the a letter Êring Norinsberg, Fitch, and Cohen case. On Thursda¡ November 7, Adrian finally finished editing the letter to Norinsberg into a singie terse paragraph and sent it to his lawyer via certi- fied mail. Larry gave me and Levitt, the highly regarded police reporter and author, a heads up. Levitt, the next morning, immediately called Norinsberg and asked him for comment. Norinsberg had not yet seen the letter, and he was furious. According to Levitt's subsequent column, Norinsberg said, "The father wants us to go after Kelly [Police Commissioner Ray Kelly], Bloomberg [Mayor Michael Bloombergl, the FBI, everyone under the sun.'lleve had a complete communications breakdown." "This comes completely out of the blue," Norinsberg continued, ignoring the conflict of the previous months. 'Adrian has stayed in my house and we've never had a bad word. Until I hear otherwise from Adrian, I'm still representing him." Levitt, paraphrasing, wrote that Norinsberg had told him Schoolcrafts' behavior has become increasingly 6izarce." "the

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