-
May 11, 2008 8:58 am US/Eastern
-
Digg |
Facebook |
E-mail
|
Print
State Senator Wants NYPD Policy Changes
White Officer Disciplined After Stopping Highest Ranking Uniformed Black Officer
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
State Senator Eric Adams is calling for action after a white officer is punished following a confrontation with the NYPD's highest ranking uniformed black officer.
Adams wants to reform how officers handle pedestrian stops, especially involving minorities.
An NYPD spokesperson said Chief Douglas Zeigler was off-duty and sitting in his SUV on a Queens street last week when two white officers approached.
"He dealt with the chief in a discourteous manner, which is unacceptable," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.
Browne also one of the officers tried to force open the car door even after Zeigler identified himself.
The Daily News reports the officer has been stripped of his gun and badge, and placed on modified duty.
The incident was reported as police are being criticized for stopping and frisking record numbers of pedestrians—about 145,000 in the first quarter of this year. The majority of them were black or Hispanic.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been leading demonstrations in the city to protest the acquittals of three police officers in the shooting death of an unarmed man as he left his bachelor party, took note of the Zeigler incident while speaking at his weekly rally in Harlem.
"You can't make this stuff up!" he said. "The problem isn't that they didn't recognize him. It is that they don't recognize our rights!"
Zeigler has headed the Community Affairs Bureau since January 2006. His wife, Neldra Zeigler, is the NYPD's deputy commissioner for equal employment opportunity.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
WCBSTV.com's Most Popular Pages