Former NYPD commissioner Edward Caban sacked a top police lawyer after she recommended discipline for a well-connected department official, according to a new lawsuit.
The former top lawyer, Amy Litwin, claims that Adams and Caban moved to fire her after she recommended that then Chief of Department Jeffery Maddrey be disciplined for vacating an arrest of a former cop pal who chased a trio of teens while waving a loaded pistol in 2021.
Two months after she “produced a lengthy and detailed report, outlining Maddrey’s abuse of authority and the reasons supporting her disciplinary recommendation,” she was fired, the lawsuit says.
Litwin’s suit, filed yesterday in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleges that Caban frequently pressured Litwin — whose job it was to investigate and recommend internal discipline — to go easy on officers, “especially when that officer was a friend or ally of Caban,” the filing reads.
Litwin, who spent 19 years as a prosecutor in the Bronx prior, “had her career ripped away from her simply for doing her job,” her lawyer Sarena Townsend told The Post.
Townsend is also representing four other former top NYPD officials alleging similar claims of corruption and cronyism against Adams and the NYPD in a set of lawsuits filed last month.
“When Ms. Litwin dared to try to hold Adams’ Chief of Department, Jeffrey Maddrey, responsible for his criminal activity and reported that activity to the NYPD Commissioner, that was the last straw – she was terminated,” Townsend said.
Litwin’s detailed filing describes Caban as a nexus for cronyism once he was appointed as First Deputy Commissioner, the office she directly reported to.
Caban “began exerting considerable inappropriate and improper pressure on Litwin to reduce the discipline her office imposed on members of service,” according to her lawsuit, with Caban asking Litwin to “speed up her review” of cases involving pals — and asked to bring suspended officers back to official duty.
In one example cited, Litwin claims Caban “explicitly” told her that it was “not appropriate” to issue discipline to someone he personally knew, and in other situations, he would send back cases for Litwin to “reconsider” her recommendations.
“Such interference with Plaintiff’s process was egregious, unwarranted, and wholly improper,” the filing states, which was first reported by Gothamist.
But that all changed in 2023 when she was asked by the Civilian Complaint Review Board to review their findings that Maddrey had abused his authority by voiding a menacing arrest of a retired cop who famously chased three teens while brandishing a loaded handgun.
Her suit claims that when her “thorough” report was first issued, then police boss Keechant Sewell agreed with her findings that Maddrey should be punished, and docked at least 10 vacation days.
But Sewell was outed weeks after the report was submitted, and Adams installed Caban as commissioner.
With Caban as police boss and Maddrey as Chief of Department — the top uniformed rank — they conspired to remove “from the NYPD all the long-serving, high-ranking members of the NYPD who had been raising the alarm on the cronyism, corruption, and general lawlessness that Caban, Maddrey, and Mayor Adams had caused to pervade the NYPD.”
Several top NYPD members were forced to resign, according to the suit and reports at the time.
And when it was Litwin’s turn, Maddrey oddly was there for the moment, Litwin claims.
“Although he had no legitimate reason to be there,” the suit reads, “Maddrey was present when Litwin was fired.”
Reps for Adams and Caban did not respond to requests for comment.
