Top Uniformed N.Y.P.D. Officer Resigns After Abuse Allegations

Jeffrey Maddrey demanded sexual favors, according to subordinates, and the federal authorities are investigating. He had previously been accused of harassment on the job.

New York City’s top uniformed police officer, the chief of department, abruptly resigned Friday night following allegations of sexual misconduct, setting off local and federal investigations and extending years of turmoil at the Police Department.

The former chief, Jeffrey Maddrey, submitted his resignation and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch accepted it, according to a statement from the department on Saturday.

Mayor Eric Adams had vocally supported Mr. Maddrey, a close ally, as recently as October. But on Saturday, a spokeswoman for the mayor, Kayla Mamelak Altus, said that he was working with Commissioner Tisch to conduct a “separate departmentwide review to ensure no high-ranking officers are using their power inappropriately.”

“We are deeply disturbed by these allegations and the N.Y.P.D. is investigating this matter,” Ms. Mamelak Altus said.

The New York Post reported Saturday morning that Mr. Maddrey had traded overtime for sexual favors from a subordinate, sometimes demanding sex at Police Headquarters.

Another former subordinate, Capt. Gabrielle Walls, said in an interview later Saturday that Mr. Maddrey had repeatedly made advances on her. Captain Walls said she had hid in her office on more than a dozen occasions to avoid advances from Mr. Maddrey. If he found her, she said, “I knew it was when the kissing would start.”

Federal investigators have joined a city Department of Investigation inquiry into the provision of overtime and the allegations of misconduct against Mr. Maddrey, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The F.B.I. declined to comment.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office is also looking into the matter.

“These are extremely serious and disturbing claims that allegedly occurred at N.Y.P.D. headquarters in Manhattan,” said Danielle Filson, an office spokeswoman. “We are investigating.”

Neither Mr. Maddrey nor Lambros Lambrou, a lawyer who has recently represented him, responded to messages for comment.

The chief of department is in charge of all crime-fighting strategies, quality-of-life initiatives and operational planning. John Chell, who had been chief of patrol, will be the interim chief, according to a Police Department news release.

“The N.Y.P.D. takes all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously, and will thoroughly investigate this matter,” the department said in its statement on Saturday. An internal memorandum showed that several officers and supervisors would be transferred out of Mr. Maddrey’s office, effective at midnight Saturday.

Adrienne Adams, the City Council speaker, on Saturday afternoon called the allegations against Mr. Maddrey “repulsive” and said the investigations into possible overtime corruption “should also probe any historical, systemic patterns of an abusive climate towards women.”

Mr. Adams, a former police captain, has taken an outsize role in the department, and Mr. Maddrey was one of several of his associates who had reached its top echelon. In October, the mayor said during a podcast appearance that “everyone knows and loves” Mr. Maddrey.

But Mr. Maddrey rose despite a series of troubling investigations and allegations, including that he had once harassed a female subordinate. Throughout his three-decade career — and long before being elevated to the department’s highest-uniformed rank — Mr. Maddrey faced disciplinary charges and litigation.

In August, Edward Caban, the police commissioner at the time, dismissed internal charges against Mr. Maddrey that he had interfered with the arrest of a retired officer who had chased three boys while armed.

In 2016, Tabatha Foster, a former officer, sued Mr. Maddrey, accusing him of making persistent sexual advances. In 2019, a federal judge dismissed her case, and her state suit against Mr. Maddrey was dismissed this year.

Last week, Captain Walls asked a New York court to add Mr. Maddrey to a sexual harassment lawsuit she had initially filed against another top chief. “I just want to come to work, do my job,” she said. She said that after she filed the suit she was transferred from Brooklyn to Queens as retaliation.

On Saturday, Captain Walls said she felt “vindicated” by the news of Mr. Maddrey’s resignation.

“They need to get them out, there are predators in the N.Y.P.D.,” she said, adding that now she was “praying more females will come forward.”

Mr. Maddrey has also been named in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Timothy Pearson, a close confidant of Mr. Adams who resigned from his post as a top aide this year. Mr. Pearson was accused of sexually harassing a police sergeant and then punishing her when she refused him. The woman accused Mr. Maddrey of helping Mr. Pearson retaliate against her.

According to Saturday’s New York Post story, Mr. Maddrey routinely preyed on the subordinate. He began asking for sexual favors, she said, after he became chief of department, the story said.

He first made the demands in June 2023, when the woman said he bent her over a couch in his office at Police Headquarters in Lower Manhattan and forced her to have sex. The subordinate said they had intercourse 10 times after that and that Mr. Maddrey demanded other favors, like having her pay for a vacation to Miami for him and his wife.

The New York Police Department is the nation’s largest, with about 50,000 civilian and uniformed employees, and is the primary point of contact with government for many residents. Mr. Maddrey’s departure comes as its top ranks are being reshaped.

Mr. Adams appointed Ms. Tisch on Nov. 20, making her his fourth commissioner as allegations of corruption and cronyism have buffeted the department and his administration. The mayor himself faces a federal indictment.

Three police commissioners have quit the department in 18 months. Keechant Sewell abruptly resigned without giving a reason, but current and former officials said her powers had been circumscribed by the mayor and his allies.

Mr. Caban quit as commissioner in September after news broke that federal investigators had seized his phone as part of an investigation into his brother’s business practices. Under Commissioner Caban, top chiefs had been straying from protocol, using the department’s public information account to call reporters liars, berating them on social media and tangling with politicians who had criticized the department.

An interim commissioner, Thomas Donlon, filled in until Ms. Tisch was appointed.

Commissioner Tisch appears to be trying to restore order. On Thursday, she said she would replace the department’s top spokesman with Delaney Kempner, who has been the top spokeswoman for Letitia James, the New York attorney general.

The allegations against Mr. Maddrey present a new challenge for Commissioner Tisch, who is still shaping her administration and only beginning to outline her vision for how the department should be run.

Capt. Derby St. Fort, who has promoted changes to police practices, said the allegations showed that officers mistrusted the internal resources meant to protect them, specifically the Internal Affairs Bureau and the Office of Equity and Inclusion, which is responsible for investigating and preventing harassment and abuse.

“This is the reason why officers are expressing their voices through the media and lawsuits,” Captain St. Fort said. “They feel like they don’t have any choice.”