Manhattan DA’s office names 61 cops with ‘credibility problems’
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Friday released their list of cops whose questionable credibility could taint court cases.
The official 61-officer list does not include ranks or assignments, but includes the names of those who have been identified in lawsuits, found to be untruthful by judges, or have their own past brushes with the law.
The disclosure makes the Manhattan DA’s office the fourth borough to release a compendium of cops whose past could somehow become a problem for prosecutors.
Additional documents released alongside the names Friday detail the alleged conduct of some of the officers.
The DA’s office noted that officers were flagged for the list because of an adverse credibility finding by a court, and does not reflect their office’s own position on their credibility.
“The inclusion of an officer’s name in the document does not necessarily mean that the District Attorney’s Office (“DANY”) concurs with the court’s conclusion,” the DA’s office said in a statement accompanying the documents.
Officer Steven Lopez and Det. Edwin Espinel made the list after Supreme Court Justice Michael Gary found their testimony to be incredible, and dismissed and sealed a case because of that, according to the additional document released Friday.
More than a dozen lawsuits landed Det. Alberto Pizarro on the list — including an active Manhattan federal court lawsuit in which he’s accused of violently arresting someone without cause, the documents said.
In addition to more serious accusations, some of the cops appear on the list for minor infractions — such as Officer Christian Diaz, who was busted around 2005 for stealing at least one “No Parking” sign, and Officer Mcgregor Philippe, who was busted in 1997 for using his brother’s student MetroCard when he was not a student.
Neither man had yet joined the NYPD when the alleged conduct occurred.
Former prosecutor Andrew Stengel sued the Manhattan DA for the release of the list, but Friday’s disclosure was instead in response to a records request, and appears to have been compiled just yesterday, on Dec. 12.
“The claim that the adverse credibility list was created this month is a lie. There is no debating that,” Stengel told The Post.
The DA’s office declined to comment on the accusation, citing pending litigation.
Yet court records show a 2018 document filed in response to Stengel’s suit said the office was unable to provide “a ‘list’ not in its possession.”
The Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn DA’s offices have all released their own lists of questionable cops within the past year, following records requests by The Post.
PBA President Pat Lynch blasted the release of the lists, and accused the DA’s offices of undermining the hard work of cops everywhere.
“Our prosecutors need to wake up and realize that the pro-criminal advocates cannot be appeased,” Lynch said in a statement. “They will not stop until they have baselessly smeared the reputation of every single police officer and rendered any criminal prosecution impossible. It is time for District Attorneys to decide whether they will continue fighting on behalf of crime victims, or just raise a white flag over every courthouse in New York State.”
The NYPD said in a statement they will monitor the findings of their own Adverse Credibility Committee to see if there’s any need for “re-training, re-assignment or, where warranted, a referral to the Internal Affairs Bureau.”
“It is important to note that the Department does not consider every adversarial judicial finding as indicative of a credibility issue for a member of the Department,” reads the statement.
Additional reporting by Gabrielle Fonrouge
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