Adams agrees to testify for whistleblower

Mayoral front-runner Eric Adams agreed to take the stand on behalf of an NYPD lieutenant who claims to have faced retaliation for not meeting arrest quotas of Black and Latino New Yorkers, the Daily News has learned.

Lt. Edwin Raymond sued in 2015, along with other minority cops, alleging an off-the-books race-based quota system in the NYPD. Raymond is now running for City Council in Brooklyn and on leave from the department. Raymond had long confided in Adams, who has served as Brooklyn borough president since 2014 and is now running for mayor. In 2019, Adams agreed to testify on Raymond’s behalf should the explosive case go to trial, according to Raymond’s lawyer John Scola. So did city Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

“When I was really going through it and fighting to be promoted and to eliminate the issues with the quotas, he understood,” Raymond said of Adams.

“I often vented to him my frustrations. I knew if there was one other person on the planet that got it, it would be him. Those were the days where I had to lean on him. It weighed very heavily on me to stand up to a giant like the NYPD and risk your career and livelihood.”

An Adams spokesman said he did not have time to respond to inquiries regarding the quota case so close to the Democratic primary on Tuesday. Williams also did not reply to a request for comment. Scola expects Williams and Adams could take the stand regarding Raymond’s emotional distress. “They’re voluntarily going to be witnesses for Edwin’s emotional distress at trial,” Scola said. “He confided in Eric Adams and Jumaane Williams while all this was going on. They would testify about how all the stuff about the quotas impacted Raymond.”

Adams has focused his campaign on reducing gun violence, while touting his record as a former NYPD officer who dared criticize the department.