NEW YORK – New York Mayor Eric Adams on Saturday distanced himself from a top NYPD official he previously promoted and defended, following new explicit allegations of sexual assault.
“The allegations are extremely concerning and alarming,” Adams told reporters on Saturday. “The police commissioner is doing a full review of all personnel, but she is also doing a full review of this matter, and it would simply be inappropriate for me to go into the details of these allegations.”
On Saturday morning, a New York Post report outlined in explosive detail allegations by one of department head Jeffrey Maddrey’s subordinates that he repeatedly sexually assaulted her in exchange for providing overtime pay. He resigned late Friday night, hours before the story was published.
Adams — a retired NYPD captain — had backed Maddrey in the past, propelling him to the department’s top uniformed position despite a troubled record.
A City Hall spokesperson released a separate statement on the news.
“We are deeply troubled by these allegations and the NYPD is investigating this matter,” spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus said. “Mayor Adams works closely with the police chief [Jessica Tisch] as the NYPD conducts a separate department-wide review to ensure no senior officer uses their power inappropriately.”
Maddrey’s attorney denied the allegations to the Post and suggested the accuser would come forward amid investigations into her massive overtime payments, which brought her salary to more than $400,000 last year.
“She is clearly drowning and in the deep end of the pool with no lifesaver,” Maddrey’s attorney, Lambros Lambrou, told the newspaper. “She wants to take down as many people as possible. This is completely worthless and we deny every aspect of it.”
Maddrey’s resignation and the sordid allegations are the latest scandal to rock the Adams administration as the mayor prepares for re-election next year.
The mayor’s inner circle, who once controlled the country’s largest city government, has largely disappeared as aides resigned or were kicked out amid corruption investigations, raids and indictments. On Thursday, the mayor’s chief adviser and political confidante of forty years was indicted by the Manhattan district attorney. And the mayor himself is facing a federal bribery case. Both have pleaded not guilty.
The NYPD has been a peculiar place of chaos, with Adams already on his fourth commissioner just three years into his term.
When Maddrey was accused of improperly intervening in an arrest, the mayor publicly and privately urged former NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell not to impose a recommended disciplinary action.
That case against Maddrey was ultimately dismissed by Sewell’s successor, Edward Caban, who himself resigned amid a federal criminal investigation.
