Police Review Board Dropped Three Complaints Against Veteran Detective After Unusual Promotion To Top Brass

By Yoav Gonen, The City

August 9, 2024

The city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board dropped three complaints of misconduct against a high-profile detective last year after he was promoted six ranks to assistant commissioner, a rare elevation to a civilian position that’s generally deemed to be outside the agency’s jurisdiction.

The complaints against Kaz Daughtry, who was since promoted a second time to deputy commissioner of operations, were sidelined by the police review board last summer after the New York Police Department removed Daughtry’s name from a “Members of Service” roster that indicates to the board which department employees it can investigate, according to CCRB officials.

Despite that, Daughtry has been photographed directly engaging in police enforcement actions over the past year while openly wearing a holstered gun on his right hip. Only non-civilian members of service are allowed to carry an exposed gun, several former NYPD officials said.

One of the three cases closed by the CCRB against Daughtry was the subject of a lawsuit filed last week in Manhattan Supreme Court by Kashim McKnight, who claims that Daughtry assaulted her at a vigil on May 8, 2023 by grabbing her arm and shoulder and slamming her to the ground.

Videos of the arrest, which took place on Manhattan’s Lower East Side after the vigilante killing of subway entertainer Jordan Neely, show McKnight running away from a crowd of officers and protesters while Daughtry — who at the time was a detective in plain clothes — suddenly rushed to pursue her on foot.

The videos show McKnight running into a street pole, after which Daughtry grabs her from behind and throws her forcefully onto the pavement.

Daughtry didn’t respond Thursday when asked about the lawsuit outside of a mayoral press conference.

He’s a longtime protege of the NYPD’s Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey and, according to news reports, has been granted a direct line to Mayor Eric Adams, who is also close with Maddrey.

Daughtry’s leap in ranks is highly unusual in the recent history of the NYPD, even more so because he’s had 51 allegations of misconduct filed against him with the CCRB during his 18-year career — although just four were substantiated.

He’s among four top policing officials in the Adams administration whose actions have generated controversy: Deputy Mayor Philip Banks was an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal case concerning police bribery under the prior administration; senior mayoral advisor Timothy Pearson is the subject of four lawsuits claiming he sexually harassed a subordinate and retaliated against her and colleagues who backed her; and in a case awaiting Caban’s decision, the CCRB last year brought disciplinary charges against Maddrey for voiding the arrest of an ex-cop who allegedly menaced three kids with a gun.

‘Needs to be Clarified’

The CCRB has jurisdiction solely over uniformed members of the police department. Daughtry was named assistant commissioner in July 2023 and promoted to deputy commissioner in February 2024, which are both civilian titles. He is currently listed as “inactive” in personnel records that are updated by the NYPD, according to CCRB officials.

Daughtry wore his gun visibly as recently as Thursday to the mayoral press conference, which underscored this dichotomy: The CCRB closed its investigations of Daughtry when he was promoted to a civilian title, while he has seemingly retained uniformed officers’ right to openly carry a gun.

The juxtaposition has sparked questions among current and former NYPD officials about which status should apply while he is in his current job.

“I know a lot of people that were deputy commissioners. I don’t know one of them that openly carried,” John Macari, a retired lieutenant who has been critical of NYPD leadership, said on a recent episode of his podcast.

NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry speaks at One Police Plaza about the arrests of students occupying Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall, May 1, 2024. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

“I’m not sitting here saying that Kaz Daughtry is a civilian, and I’m not sitting here saying Kaz Daughty is a uniformed member of service,” he added. “I’m saying that that needs to be clarified.”

In a response to a Freedom of Information Law request obtained by THE CITY, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which keeps personnel records, stated in April that Daughtry was “on leave from his position” as a police officer.

That opens the possibility that, in promoting Daughtry, NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban was adhering to an obscure section of the City Charter that allows the mayor or commissioners to temporarily fill a high-level vacancy with someone who has a competitive civil service position such as police officer.

In the temporary role, that person would “exercise all the powers and duties and receive the salary” of their new position, while retaining “all the rights, privileges and status” of their prior one, according to the charter.

The NYPD press office didn’t respond to multiple questions about Daughtry, including whether he’s considered a civilian or uniformed member and what his duties are as deputy commissioner.

CCRB officials didn’t respond when asked whether they believe that the charter provision could, in fact, allow them to continue the three cases against Daughtry if his “status” is still a police officer.

The oversight board reviews instances of police misconduct that include use of force, abuse of authority, and false official statements, and prosecutes the most serious cases at disciplinary trials overseen by an NYPD administrative judge. The police commissioner has final say over disciplinary outcomes.

More Complaint Records

McKnight’s lawsuit, which names additional NYPD members as defendants, said McKnight was falsely arrested and had the charges against her dropped by the Manhattan District Attorney within months of the protest.

“My client, Shakim, a transwoman, suffered orbital fracture and other injuries after being assaulted by the NYPD brass while she was filming at the Jordan Neely vigil,” said McKnight’s attorney, John Paul DeVerna.

The NYPD press office told the New York Daily News, which was first to report the lawsuit, that McKnight’s injuries arose from the run-in with the light pole. A still photo posted online also shows Daughtry kneeling on McKnight’s back.

The nature of the complaints against Daughtry in the two other CCRB cases aren’t publicly available because the cases are still open against other officers allegedly involved in those incidents, both of which took place in the weeks before McKnight’s encounter with police.

A fourth complaint against Daughtry, also filed in April 2023, was closed two months later pending litigation and it hasn’t been reopened since.

One of the complainants in that case, Emmanuel Williams, said he and his friend were sitting on their newly bought motorcycles near a curb in Bedford-Stuyvesant when two unmarked police vehicles boxed them in.

Williams, who later learned the pair had been suspected of carrying out a gunpoint robbery, said he was clotheslined to the ground by one of the officers who jumped out of a vehicle, and his buddy was knocked off his motorcycle by one of the vehicles.

“He fell off the bike, the bike set on fire, and they took him to jail,” Williams told THE CITY this summer.

Though Daughtry is named in Williams’ complaint, it’s unclear what role he allegedly played in the incident. Williams said the charges against them were eventually dropped, but he questioned why they had been suspects in the first place.

“I’m 40-something years old. I ain’t doing no shooting robbery,” Williams said. “You think I’d do a shooting robbery and sit here?”

In an interview with the New York Daily News last year, Daughtry said footage from a police helicopter shows that any police vehicle contact with the motorcycle came when the driver tried to squeeze past them as he was being boxed in.

This press release was produced by The City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.