Hero cop ‘trashed’
SUES CITY OVER GARBAGE DETAIL
A hero NYPD cop serving on the mayor’s security detail says his bosses treat him like trash, according to a lawsuit filed Sunday.
Detective Keith Dietrich – who was once praised as one of “the most distinguished members of the greatest police department (in) the world” — sued over age discrimination he says he endured right under Mayor de Blasio’s nose.
The cop, who received the NYPD’s Medal of Honor, said he was derisively referred to as a “hairbag” by a superior and ordered to sit in a booth behind City Hall in an area used for garbage disposal. He seeks $7 million in damages.
“He’s a recognized hero. And the fact that he hasn’t been promoted to the highestgrade detective speaks very directly to the position in our lawsuit that there’s a discriminatory process,” Dietrich’s attorney Marshall Bellovin said.
He noted that the mayor was mentioned in the lawsuit, but not a defendant.
“This isn’t only a case about the mayor. In my opinion, this is a case about a secretive promotion system that discriminates against certain groups of detectives and lieutenants. It’s about a system that promotes discrimination,” said Bellovin, of the firm Ballon Stoll Bader & Nadler.
Dietrich’s lawsuit is the latest in a simmering scandal in the mayor’s Executive Protection Unit, which accompanies de Blasio everywhere. One source told the Daily News that only de Blasio’s family knows him better than the officers of the EPU.
At least six detectives in the 30-member unit have sued or are expected to sue. They all point the finger at Inspector Howard Redmond, the unit commander, claiming he repeatedly passed them over for promotions and gave them bad assignments — while reserving good assignments for cops in his good graces.
Despite the turmoil, which Dietrich, 54, describes in the lawsuit as a hostile work environment, Redmond remains in the post. De Blasio is aware of the disgruntled cops charged with protecting him but has done nothing, the Manhattan Federal Court suit says.
Redmond allegedly referred to Dietrich, who has been on the force for 29 years, as a “hairbag” — NYPD slang for a burned out cop.
Dietrich says Redmond gave him demeaning assignments. A former Marine, Dietrich received the department’s highest award for bravery for his role in a 1994 Wild West-style shootout with a gunman on Queens Blvd.
In that incident, Wen Ping Hsu shot and killed three people before Dietrich and his partner, Thomas Koehler, took him out in a gun battle in which 278 rounds were fired.
Koehler was shot through the left thigh and lost that leg below the knee.
“I know I speak for the entire department, for Mayor Giuliani and for the people of New York City when I say … thank you for what you are, the most distinguished members of the greatest police department the world has ever known,” then-Police Commissioner Howard Safir said at the 1996 Medal Day ceremony.
Dietrich declined comment on his lawsuit Friday and referred a call to the NYPD press office. But the now-retired Koehler, who also received the Medal of Honor, was stunned at his old partner’s predicament.
“He’s one of the reasons I’m still alive,” he said. “You’re talking about a guy who’s got almost 30 years and he’s still getting passed over. You’ve got this highest award winner and he was sitting there guarding garbage. It’s pretty sad.”
The NYPD referred a request for comment to the city Law Department. A Law Department spokesman declined to comment on an ongoing case.
“It’s very hard to make the argument the unit is a hotbed of prejudice involving race, creed or color,” a city source said, noting 85% of the unit has been promoted and that EPU detectives are from diverse backgrounds.
Redmond declined comment. “Inspector Redmond commands operations in a fair and even-handed manner regardless of age, gender or origin. Promotion to first grade detective is a subjective decision made by the commissioner, not the inspector,” Roy Richter, president of the Captains Endowment Association, said.
Among the indignities Dietrich lists in his suit: Redmond ordered him out of the suitand-tie mayor’s detail, took away his phone and gave him menial duties that required he put on a uniform — for the first time in 20 years, the suit says. Redmond changed Dietrich’s tour schedule to evenings, sharply reducing the time he can see his kids, according to papers. Dietrich splits time between the rear entrance guard house to City Hall and relieving other EPU members so they can get meals, the suit says.
“These were grossly inappropriate and demeaning assignments,” the lawsuit reads. “These reflect defendants’ systematic attempts to isolate (Dietrich) because of his age.”
Dietrich, the unit’s senior detective by years of service, has remained a second-grade detective while younger colleagues have been promoted to the coveted first-grade rank, records show. “I know you don’t want to protect the mayor; it’s all about your days off,” Lt. Karl Pfeffer, one of Redmond’s allies, allegedly barked at Dietrich in May 2016.
Earlier this month, another unit member, Detective Abdelim (Abe) Azab, sued the city, alleging he was being discriminated against because of his Muslim faith.
He was also a member of the NYPD’s controversial Demographics Unit that spied on Muslim communities after 9/11.
Alex Pelepelin, a third detective in the unit, sued in Manhattan Supreme Court in May. He claims Redmond told other cops Pelepelin was “too intimidating for the mayor’s family.”
Redmond, sources said, runs the unit with an iron fist, rewarding allies and unfairly punishing cops he doesn’t like.