Blaz-pal ‘favor’ cop transfer
THE NYPD commander who spared a bishop pal of Mayor de Blasio’s from spending a night in jail has been transferred out of the Brooklyn precinct where the controversial favor took place, police sources said Saturday.
Inspector Kenneth Lehr was transferred from the 67th Precinct in East Flatbush to the NYPD Warrants Squad, the sources said. It was not immediately revealed what Lehr’s position will be.
Lehr is being replaced by Deputy Inspector Joseph Gulotta, the former commanding officer of the 73rd Precinct in Brownsville. Gulotta’s life was threatened by a gangbanger on Facebook last year following an exclusive Daily News report on how the precinct uses social media to track down guns and gang members.
On Feb. 10, Bishop Orlando Findlayter, a Brooklyn pastor who had a position on de Blasio’s inaugural committee, was arrested for failing to signal while making a left turn onto Clarkson Ave. at E. 92nd St. in Brownsville, officials said.
While running a check, cops discovered the pastor had a suspended license and two outstanding warrants.
Findlayter was expected to spend the night in jail, but Lehr let him go with a desk appearance ticket — a breach of protocol — after de Blasio personally called his superiors, sources said.
Lehr claimed he let Findlay-ter go after getting calls from other clergy memb bers.