A Brooklyn man who repeatedly filed complaints about police officers parked on the sidewalk outside his local precinct station house – prompting a menacing call from an NYPD cop posing as a 311 operator – has received a $25,000 settlement, a city watchdog announced on Monday.
Two NYPD officers had to contribute $500 each towards the payout, the city Conflicts of Interest Board said.
Over nine months in 2021, Downtown Brooklyn resident Justin Sherwood filed 901 complaints over the vehicles parked on the sidewalk outside the 84th Precinct station house. Police officers illegally parking on sidewalks outside of police precincts has long been a complaint of street safety advocates.
On Sept. 10, 2021, Sherwood received a bizarre phone call.
In a recording of the call provided to Gothamist, NYPD Officer John Madera, identifying himself as a 311 operator named “Josh Hayden,” asked Sherwood, “Why do you keep putting over the same 311 job over and over and over again?”
“This is happening every day, this is becoming a chronic situation,” the operator said.
“Yes, it is a chronic situation. There’s multiple vehicles parked on the sidewalk,” Sherwood replied.
The operator responded by saying, “This location is in front of a transit precinct.” Sherwood replied, “They’re still not allowed to park on the sidewalk.”
The operator eventually warned Sherwood, “You might be barred from the [311] system going forward.”
Madera confirmed he had posed as “Josh Hayden” on the call in a notice from the Conflicts of Interest Board. The NYPD disciplined him by taking away 15 vacation days, according to the board.
Hear the call between Sherwood and an NYPD officer posing as a 311 operator.
“I acknowledge that, by using the complainant’s personal contact information to give him false information in an attempt to discourage him from filing 311 complaints about parking practices at my precinct, I used confidential information to advance a private interest,”…
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