Eric Adams has taken campaign cash from cops with legal troubles — including firebrand NYPD union boss
Eric Adams has long advocated for rooting out “bad apples” from the NYPD — so it may come as a surprise that some of them are bankrolling his mayoral bid.
At least 13 NYPD cops accused of various wrongdoing — including excessive use of force, driving under the influence and abuse of authority — have donated to Adams’ Democratic campaign for mayor, a Daily News analysis of campaign finance and police records found.
Adams, a former NYPD captain and Brooklyn’s current borough president, has netted at least $5,375 from such members of New York’s Finest, according to the records.
The cash from cops with legal troubles poured in even though Adams has spent a career in law enforcement and politics advocating for police reform.
While in the NYPD, Adams co-founded “100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care,” an advocacy group dedicated to fighting police misconduct.
He has also put the issue front and center on the campaign trail, promising as part of his mayoral platform that an Adams administration would make it easier to report on “bad apples” in the NYPD while “exposing problem police.”
“If you are abusive in my city, you are going to be out of the department within 90 days,” Adams said on MSNBC this spring. “We are going to lift up the standard and expectation of our officers.”
Overall, 335 members of the NYPD have donated to Adams’ campaign, records show. An overwhelming majority of them have not been accused of wrongdoing.
Evan Thies, a spokesman for Adams, said Sunday that the campaign is doing “its best to vet each contribution,” but acknowledged some may have fallen through the cracks.
“Eric has been a leader for police reform for decades, risking his career and well-being to call out bad cops when he was an officer — so of course any member of the NYPD shown to have abused their authority and violated their oath to New Yorkers will have their contribution returned,” Thies said.
The most prominent cop with a checkered past who has contributed to the Adams campaign is Ed Mullins, the outspoken president of the NYPD sergeants union.
Mullins — who gave Adams $400 last month, according to campaign disclosures — was charged by the Civilian Complaint Review Board earlier this year with two counts of offensive language for calling Democratic Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres “a first class whore” and former city Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot a “b---h” in tweets. He was also charged with one count of abuse of authority for posting the arrest record of Mayor de Blasio’s adult daughter online.
Mullins, who has maintained his actions were protected under the First Amendment as part of a department trial that started last week, told The News he chipped in to Adams’ campaign because “he’s a cop, you know.”
“A lot of the things Eric says I kind of like,” said Mullins, who’s an avowed supporter of former President Donald Trump. “I think he understands policing.”
Several other Adams-backing cops with records were dinged for driving while intoxicated.
One of them is Khandakar Abdullah, a Brooklyn officer who was found guilty in intra-department proceedings in 2011 of driving under the influence of an intoxicant and refusing a breathalyzer test, records show.
The NYPD initially wanted to permanently boot Abdullah from the force, deeming him “unfit for duty,” according to records. But his punishment was downgraded to a one-year suspension, along with regularly mandated breathalyzer tests.
Abdullah — who gave $250 to Adams’ campaign last month, records show — has since been promoted to captain.
Another NYPD member reprimanded for drunk driving is Donald Stewart, a lieutenant in the Queens Narcotics Bureau who gave $150 to Adams, according to records.
The department found Stewart guilty in 2014 of driving under the influence, refusing a breathalyzer test and consuming “an intoxicant to the extent that said officer was unfit for duty,” records show. He was placed on dismissal suspension for 12 months, ordered to undergo counseling and regular breathalyzer tests and has since returned to service.
There are also incidents of threats and violence among the Adams-supporting cops.
Cuintyna Carter, an officer in Manhattan’s Detective Bureau North, was found guilty by the NYPD in 2015 of threatening a person “known to the department” over the phone, leaving a threatening voicemail for the same person, making misleading statements to investigators and “wrongfully” operating an unregistered vehicle, records show.
Carter, who was allowed back on the force after a 12-month suspension, contributed $50 to Adams’ campaign in late 2019.
NYPD Det. Jeanyvens Morand — who has contributed a total of $1,000 to Adams’ mayoral camp since late 2019 — was found guilty in 2015 department proceedings of engaging in “a verbal and physical altercation with a person known to the department,” records show. He was suspended for 30 days.
Sgt. Asad Anwar is another cop with a violent streak, having been found guilty by the NYPD in 2010 of “wrongfully” using force “against an individual known to the department without police necessity.” He donated $25 to Adams’ campaign.
One of the most generous contributors is NYPD Sgt. Ruthen Goddard, who gave $1,000 to Adams last month and another $150 last year.
Goddard was found guilty by the department in 2017 of submitting a letter requesting a promotion that he “knew contained a false statement” and then “made false and misleading statements during official department interviews conducted in regard to religious accommodation.” He was suspended for 12 months and stripped of 60 vacation days.
Other cops who have contributed to Adams were determined guilty of less serious transgressions, like failing to safeguard an off-duty firearm, being excessively late or absent at work and failing to maintain a current driver’s license.
Bob Gangi, the founder of the Police Reform Organizing Project, an NYPD watchdog group, said the donations are a “bad look” for Adams and urged him to return them promptly, given that he’s all but certain to become mayor.
“He should return those donations and tell those officers, ‘I’m going to keep an eye on you,’” Gangi said. “It’s important for him as the likely mayor to distance himself from that and send a message, not just to the police, but to the larger community that he’s not going to let officers who have engaged in misconduct be cozy with him.”
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