A recently filed complaint with the EEOC over the allegations led to the resignation, which was accepted by the NYPD Police Chief.
Jeffrey Maddrey, the former Chief of Department — the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) highest ranking uniformed officer — resigned on Saturday over claims that he required sexual favors from a subordinate in exchange for access to overtime hours and pay. Lt. Quathisha Epps, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In her complaint she alleges Maddrey engaged in sexual harassment and coercion by requesting she performed sexual favors in exchange for overtime opportunities.
According to her lawyer, Epps alleges that when she pushed back against the request for sexual favors, she was accused of abusing overtime and Maddrey opened an investigation into her overtime pay; she was then suspended without pay, though she had already submitted the paperwork for retirement.
According to CNN, Epps was the NYPD’s top earner in fiscal year 2024, having earned more than $400,000 in pay — more than half of which was for overtime.
Epps’ complaint isn’t the first time that Maddrey has been accused of abusing his position at NYPD. NYPC Capt. Gabrielle Willis has amended a prior complaint against other top NYPD brass to include Maddrey, alleging that he sexually harassed her as far back as 2015.
Another former officer accused Maddrey of forcing her to engage in a yearslong affair, but that case was dismissed by a New York State judge in November 2024. Maddrey also has an on-going Civil Complaint Review Board claim against him for allegedly requiring his officers to void the arrest of a former NYPD officer who used to work for him. An NYPD administrative trial judge has suggested the case be dropped due to jurisdictional reasons.
Maddrey, through his counsel, has denied all of the allegations.
Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio and host of the award-winning podcast, “Dear Culture” on theGrio Black Podcast Network. He writes very Black things, drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest) but he didn’t answer the phone because the caller ID said “Unknown” (Blackest).
