NYPD Misconduct Veteran Files Discrimination and Retaliation Lawsuit

NYPD attorney Samuel Yee took on a high-ranking inspector who posted racist comments online, a police buddy of Trump adviser Roger Stone, and a powerful sergeant union head.

But the veteran police misconduct prosecutor is now fighting for his career in the very department he has long defended.

Yi, a Chinese-American, alleges in a lawsuit filed on Sunday in Manhattan Supreme Court that his boss, Deputy Commissioner Amy Litwin of the Department’s Attorney’s Office, turned down his promotion several times in favor of less experienced white lawyers. whom she either promoted or brought in for higher salaries from outside the NYPD.

When Yi filed a complaint about his treatment, they were ignored and he was escorted out of the office, lost his role in the misdemeanor prosecution and was relegated to the backwoods of the department, he claims in the lawsuit.

“Sam Yee, who has an exemplary track record of successfully prosecuting the NYPD’s most important and most complex cases, has repeatedly stepped down in leadership positions in place of less qualified white female attorneys,” Yee’s lawyer John Scola said.

“When he complained that the NYPD Legal Bureau did not investigate his complaints of discrimination, he was wrongfully stripped of his prosecutor’s job and transferred from the department’s attorney’s office the next day.”

The lawsuit is a rare public sign of the wave of unrest that has swept through the Misconduct Unit in Litvin’s 20-month tenure. In addition to Yi’s claims, several other agency lawyers have also filed internal discrimination complaints, sources familiar with the complaints said.

The controversy arose at a time when Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell signaled she wanted to overhaul the disciplinary matrix that sets penalties for misconduct for officers.

An NYPD spokesman declined to comment on Yi’s claims.

“The Department does not tolerate discrimination in any form and is committed to a respectful work environment for our diverse workforce,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “The NYPD thoroughly investigates all complaints and offers police officers several options to report, including anonymously.”

Prior to his transfer, Yi, 50, worked in the office for eight years, spending 12 years as a prosecutor in Maryland and six years at the New York Attorney General’s Office. Notably, he harassed then Sergeant Union chief Edward Mullins for disparaging remarks, Officer Sal Greco for his friendship with Trump adviser Stone, and Inspector James Kobel, head of the discrimination investigation office, who posted violent racist rants online.

All three cases were successful. Yee claims that prior to Litwin’s arrival, he was getting high grades and consistently getting high marks for his productivity.

But after her appointment in May 2020, after working for the Bronx District Attorney’s office, Litwin began hiring white lawyers with higher levels and salaries than Yee, the lawsuit alleges.

For example, Lytvyn hired another former Bronx prosecutor, Katherine Falasca, in January 2021, giving her a salary level that took Yee more than six years to achieve, even though he had 17 years more experience as a prosecutor, the lawsuit alleges.

Likewise, Lytvyn hired lawyer Anna Krutaya in May 2021, who had far less experience than Yi, but immediately gave her the same salary and level, the lawsuit alleges.

In October and November 2021, Lytvyn also appointed white lawyer Daniel Maurer to a newly created executive advisor position and hired Emily Collins as executive advisor, the lawsuit alleges. The post that went to Collins was not advertised. The lawsuit alleges that Collins had no disciplinary experience.

Yi has also been overlooked in other jobs, which he says cost him between $20,000 and $30,000 a year in lost pay. In the fall of 2021, when DAO chief Penny Blueford-Garrett needed an experienced lawyer to help her with her cases, she recommended Yi.

But Lytvyn rejected the idea, the lawsuit claims.

Lytvyn also began to remove lawyers of color from cases involving allegations of discrimination, domestic violence and sex crimes, the lawsuit says. She also set up a special task force with a smaller caseload to work with victims of misconduct, but excluded Yi from it.

Yi filed complaints with the city’s Department of Investigation, the Human Rights Commission, and the NYPD’s Office of Equal Employment Opportunity.

When his complaint reached the NYPD’s EEO office, the new boss there, Deputy Commissioner Michael Melokowski, accused Yee of “mishandling” EEO affairs, the lawsuit says.

Yee claims that despite nine EEO investigators vouching for his work, Melokowski was “close” to Litvin and Falaska, according to the lawsuit.

Yee’s lawsuit also mentions five other Hispanic or black lawyers who earn less than the white women Litvin hired, but he claims they have much larger, more complex cases and work longer hours.

The conflict came to a head in October when NYPD attorney David Goldfarb told Yee his complaints were closed without action. Yi was then ordered to leave the DAO office. He had to pack his things and leave under escort, the lawsuit says. He can’t handle cases anymore.

Assigned to the Law Bureau, he was ordered to help with the Department of Corrections’ backlog of disciplinary cases. He has since been reassigned to the NYPD Bureau of Criminal Justice, where officers who fall out of favor are often sent.

“This reassignment is equivalent to a “penal position” for a lawyer in the DAO,” says Yi.