New York City on Tuesday reached a $175,000 settlement with a Staten Island police officer who said he had been a victim of retaliation for giving traffic tickets to people with connections to the upper echelons of the Police Department.
The officer, Mathew Bianchi, filed a lawsuit against the city last May. The suit said that he had been transferred out of his precinct’s traffic unit after Jeffrey Maddrey, then the chief of patrol and now the department’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, asked that he be punished. Officer Bianchi had issued a ticket to a woman with whom Chief Maddrey was said to be friends, according to the suit.
“This settlement is a vindication for our client, allowing him to close this chapter and continue his service with the N.Y.P.D.,” John Scola, Officer Bianchi’s lawyer, said on Tuesday. “We hope that Officer Bianchi’s courage and this decisive outcome will inspire other officers to come forward as whistle-blowers.”
The settlement did not involve any admission of wrongdoing from the city, which in court papers denied most of Officer Bianchi’s allegations, including those about Chief Maddrey’s role in his transfer.
“Resolving this case was best for all parties,” said Nick Paolucci, a spokesman for the city’s Law Department.
Officer Bianchi, who joined the force in 2015, said in his lawsuit and in subsequent interviews that the standard practice in his precinct, the 123rd on Staten Island, was to avoid ticketing drivers who had cards issued by police unions — known as courtesy cards — which officers distribute to their friends and family. His troubles in the department, he said, stemmed from his willingness to issue tickets to cardholders.
In his lawsuit, Officer Bianchi said that he had several run-ins with high-ranking union officials, who warned him that the police union would not protect him if he continued to ticket cardholders. He filed complaints with the department’s internal affairs division and the city’s Department of Investigation, but nothing seemed to come of it.
In August 2022, he stopped the woman, who he later heard was Chief Maddrey’s friend. He was transferred out of the traffic unit days later.
Asked about the settlement on Tuesday, Officer Bianchi, who still works as a patrol officer on Staten Island, said that he was glad that the matter was resolved.
“I hope that the next guy that’s in my situation takes a stand for themselves,” he said, adding, “It’s sad that you have to go this far to address a problem.”
The settlement comes amid a period of turmoil for the Police Department. Last week, federal agents seized the phone of the commissioner, Edward A. Caban, in one of several investigations into Mayor Eric Adams’s administration. The administration is seeking Commissioner Caban’s resignation, though he has yet to step down.
On Tuesday, Officer Bianchi said that he still tried at every turn to return to the traffic unit, but had remained unsuccessful. And he said the settlement might not be the true end of the matter.
“My job is a little vindictive,” he said. “Making some headway here, I’m going to pay for it with my career.”
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