Wednesday’s Headlines: Officer Of The Raw Edition

Another cop — this time a detective! — has been held accountable for the agency’s abuse of a Brooklyn man who just wanted to report illegal parking.

Streetsblog readers know the case well: In 2021, we first reported how Justin Sherwood (then anonymous) had started receiving harassing phone calls from cops after he complained to 311 about officers stashing their private cars in the bike lane and on the sidewalk on Schermerhorn Street. A day after our first story about the harassment was published, one of the cops harassed him again, prompting another story.

Two years later, the city ended up reaching a sizable settlement with Sherwood. But he and his lawyer was unimpressed given that, despite the settlement, the NYPD had not disciplined the officers.

But that started changing as the city Conflicts of Interest Board got involved. In late 2023, Officer John Madera of the 84th Precinct agreed to pay $500 and surrender 15 vacation days in a settlement with the board.

On Tuesday, we learned that another police official — Det. Samantha Sturman — had agreed to pay a $6,500 fine in her own settlement with the Conflicts of Interest Board. Sturman, according to board documents told Sherwood to “stop calling, dickhead,” and then issued a veiled warning via text message to Sherwood’s personal cell phone, “Keep fucking around.” (The investigation revealed that Sturman wasn’t merely reacting impulsively — she had undertaken considerable work to try to hide her identity from Sherwood, having first downloaded an app called TextNow that allows users to select and use a phone number to make free calls and send text messages.)

Sturman was punished, the board said in a statement, because she “abused her access to confidential information [i.e. Sherwood’s phone number] to advance her private interests.”

Sherwood is not the only Brooklyn resident who has won some measure of revenge over police who harassed them for making 311 complaints of illegal police parking. The late Paul Vogel had been subject to egregious abuse from Officer Brendan Sullivan, who made sexually suggestive phone calls, including using animal sounds. Sullivan was later demoted with lower pay.

Despite the Conflicts of Interest Board’s findings against Sturman, Sherwood was still frustrated by the entire process.

“The COIB’s penalty is the first substantial repercussion Det. Sturman is facing … but both Madera and Sturman should’ve faced criminal charges and been terminated for their conduct,” Sherwood told Streetsblog.

“I agree with the [Conflict Board] statement: Det. Sturman ‘is in a position of public trust’ and that her ‘egregious abuse of confidential information … cannot be tolerated.’”

In other news:

• Council Member Chi Ossé has gotten under the New York Post’s skin before — he’s a liberal, after all — but Rupert Revanchists are about to go full bore on the Brooklyn lawmaker. Yesterday, the tabloid posted a video of Ossé biking a half block in the wrong direction near City Hall and running a red light. Ossé could have just let this be a one-day story, but he went and doubled down (twice!) on X.com, meaning that the Post just won’t let this one die:

• Only amNY followed our story yesterday about the Department of Transportation’s excellent improvement to Avenue B, reducing traffic and making the roadway safer, albeit with a deceptive headline.
• The Times went full live blog on NJ Transit’s woes.
• Meanwhile, commuters’ bus-aster starts on Thursday at the Port Authority bus terminal. (Gothamist)
• Horse carriages are about to go the way of, well, horse carriages, as Mayor Mamdani and Council Speaker Julie Menin make a deal. (Politico, NY Times, NYDN)
• The Staten Island Advance finally got around to reheating the Post’s nachos on DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn’s completely reasonable desire to reduce driving.
• Speaking of driving on the Rock, an ambulance driver killed a cyclist in a crash. (Gothamist, NYDN)
• Manslaughter charges for the Flushing driver who killed a baby while on drugs. (NYDN, QNS)
• And a Brooklyn man was charged with manslaughter for a hit-and-run earlier this month on deadly Ocean Parkway. (NYDN)
• Cops have apparently arrested the serial bike thief of Brooklyn. (Williamsburg 365)
• And, finally, this Saturday is the first (annual?) Riverfront Ramble, a two-state, cross-Hudson walk and scavenger hunt that sounds like a lot of fun (and, yes, walking). Check out the info here.