On Wednesday (July 16), former New York Police Division commissioner Thomas Donlon filed an explosive 251-page federal lawsuit in opposition to New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams and different former and present NYPD officers, claiming that “A coordinated prison conspiracy had taken root on the highest ranges of Metropolis authorities — carried out by way of wire fraud, mail fraud, sincere providers fraud, obstruction of justice and retaliation in opposition to whistleblowers.”
The lawsuit comprises a number of detailed accusations, starting with former NYPD spokesperson Tarik Sheppard, who Donlon claimed abused the promotion course of within the division to falsely elevate his rank and that of different Adams loyalists through the use of Donlon’s personal signature stamp with out permission on a promotion memo. Donlon complained to Adams, and the strain with Sheppard resulted in Donlon being almost assaulted on the New York Metropolis Marathon by Sheppard throughout a publicity picture shoot.
Donlon additionally claims that he was topic to sabotage by NYPD Deputy Commissioner Jeffrey Maddrey and others loyal to Adams, and that additionally they served as “spies” reporting no matter he did. He additionally claimed that they focused his spouse after a site visitors incident orchestrating her being arrested falsely, together with her being chained to a wall within the precinct and bodily searched “like a standard prison,” and accused senior NYPD officers of not defending proof in prison investigations correctly.
Donlon briefly served as commissioner starting in September 2024 after the resignation of Edward Caban, who resigned after having his telephone seized by federal brokers as a part of a corruption investigation. He could be transferred right into a senior advisory position two months later, and that place could be eradicated by Metropolis Corridor workers in April of this 12 months. It’s the second such lawsuit in opposition to Mayor Adams in a bit of over per week – the primary was filed by 4 former NYPD chiefs who additionally allege that investigations into the highest officers of the division have been stopped.
“These are baseless accusations from a disgruntled former worker who — when given the chance to guide the best police division on the earth — proved himself to be ineffective,” stated Metropolis Corridor spokesperson Kayla Memelak Altus in an announcement. Donlon despatched out his personal assertion with the lawsuit, saying: “This lawsuit is just not a private grievance; it’s a assertion in opposition to a corrupt system that betrays the general public, silences fact, and punishes integrity.”
