DHS staffer ‘threatened to shoot’ employee 'No shelter' from this boss

The city is quietly dealing with another homeless crisis.

A Department of Homeless Services supervisor in charge of overseeing transportation of the homeless to shelters citywide is under investigation for allegedly threatening to blow an underling’s brains out with a handgun over a work dispute, The Post has learned.

“He said, ‘ You know, I’m a big Jamaican man. I will get my .357 Magnum and shoot you in the head,’ ” said James Bookman, a DHS motor vehicles operator, recalling the Oct. 6 exchange with supervisor Delroy Lawrence (right) at a Brooklyn men’s shelter

ookman, 50, immediately filed a complaint with police, relaying the same threat, law-enforcement sources confirmed.

The city’s Department of Investigation is probing the incident, sources said.

But Bookman, a three-year DHS employee, says this isn’t his first run-in with Lawrence — or the first time he’s complained.

He claims Lawrence previously “verbally harassed” him for months at the Barbara Kleiman Shelter in Greenpoint, saying he was routinely cursed at and accused of “milking it” on the job in front of co-workers. He had sent more than a dozen e-mails to other DHS officials outlining the earlier harassment complaints.

Bookman said his life was threatened mere seconds after he tried to patch things up with Lawrence by professing they “need to work together.”

His supervisor wasn’t interested in making up and began yelling at him, Bookman said. Lawrence allegedly threatened to shoot him after he threatened to tell DHS he was again being harassed.

Joe Puleo, president of DC 37 Local 983, the union which represents the drivers, accused the agency of not taking the threat and other harassment complaints seriously.

“If DHS can’t take care of its own house, how can the public expect it to take care of the homeless?” Puleo said. “[Law- rence] has anger-management issues that need to be dealt with. Are they waiting for a tragedy to react?”

DHS officials, however, say they are taking the allegations very seriously, adding they were the ones who directed Bookman to file a police report and referred the matter to DOI.

“These allegations are extremely troubling — and if true, we will pursue every penalty in our power, including seeking this individual’s arrest and termination,” said DHS spokesman Isaac McGinn.

“We will not tolerate behavior that makes our clients or our staff feel unsafe.”

Contacted by The Post, Lawrence denied any wrongdoing and claimed Bookman is trying to cause trouble because his overtime was cut. Lawrence, a DHS staffer since 2000, also said he doesn’t own a firearm.

“I made no such statements,” said Lawrence. “Why would I say something like that?”

Bookman and a union lawyer met with a DOI investigator on Oct. 30. A DOI spokesman said the agency is “aware of the matter” but declined to comment further.