DA: No Crime to Throw Cop Whistleblower in Psych Ward
December 3, 2012
Neither the NYPD nor Jamaica Hospital committed a crime when they forcibly took whistleblower cop Adrian Schoolcraft from his home and held him in the hospital’s psych ward against his will for three days.
So says Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, whose office conducted a criminal investigation of the incident together with the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau.
According to a draft report, which was obtained byNYPD Confidential, Brown concluded that both the police and the hospital doctors acted reasonably because they believed Schoolcraft to be an emotionally disturbed person [EDP].
“Medical personnel at Jamaica Hospital made their own independent assessment … determining that Mr. Schoolcraft’s hospital admission was medically required,” the draft report reads.
“While the conduct of police and medical personnel may give rise to questions as to the decision-making process to restrain Mr. Schoolcraft and the medical decision to admit him as a psychiatric patient, the credible evidence does not support the allegation that the actions taken by police or medical personnel were with criminal intent.”
(just a few excerpts)
An attorney familiar with Schoolcraft’s case said that Brown’s report would not affect Schoolcraft’s $50-million lawsuit against the city. Legally, the standard for criminality is different and much higher than for civil liability, the attorney said. “Practically, to the extent that the public views the report as exonerating the police department, the report could affect how the public perceives Schoolcraft,” the attorney added.
Filed in the summer of 2010, Schoolcraft’s lawsuit alleges that the police department kidnapped and conspired with Jamaica Hospital to imprison Schoolcraft with no medical justification in retaliation for his whistle-blowing.
“We have the same rhetoric and the same cover up,” he said.
An internal police investigation subsequently confirmed Schoolcraft’s charges against his precinct commanders, resulting in the discipline or transfers of four of its top officers.
