Docs Reveal New Complaints Against Bed-Stuy Top Cop: DA

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — Thousands of documents about NYPD officers released by Brooklyn prosecutors this week reveal new allegations against one of Bed-Stuy's top cops, including two ongoing investigations started last summer.

When compiling letters in the last year about Brooklyn police officers who might be called to testify, the District Attorney's office found potential credibility concerns about Deputy Inspector Timothy Skretch, who leads the 79th Precinct.

Skretch is facing two new investigations by the Civilian Complaint Review Board stemming from summer 2020 and was the subject of a civil lawsuit earlier in his career, according to the letter.

The newly-revealed complaints are on top of allegations, also included in the letter, that have already been public about Skretch thanks to a change in state law that allowed disciplinary records to be released last year.

And he's not the only high-ranking Brooklyn cop to face scrutiny — he's one of nine precinct commanders who were flagged by the office, according to documents released Monday.

The more than 10,000 internal documents include letters the District Attorney's Office prepared for defendants and their defense attorneys between January 2020 and March 2021 about specific officers called to testify in criminal cases.

About two-thirds of the letters included at least one disclosure about the officer's background, whether it be a prior NYPD discipline or internal affairs investigation, a Brooklyn DA's Office finding, a record with the Civilian Complaint Review Board, a lawsuit against the officer or a judge's assessment of the cop's credibility.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez has noted that a disclosure does not mean the police officer is not credible or should not be testifying, but only that "the information can potentially be used as impeachment material and is thus constitutionally required to be disclosed."

Both of the Civilian Complaint Review Board complaints against Skretch — one from May 30 and another from June 12 in 2020 — are redacted, likely given that they are pending investigations, according to the DA.

The lawsuit, filed in 2014, details an incident where a group of officers "viciously" attacked a Black man, slamming his face into the ground while stomping on him and beating him with their batons, according to the complaint. The officers took the man into custody at the 75th Precinct, only for the case against him to later be dismissed, the lawsuit states.

Skretch is one of five officers named in the suit, though it is not specified what his role was in the incident. The case was ultimately settled with the officers denying liability and the city agreeing to pay the man $22,500, court records show.

The cache of DA documents comes after a Freedom of Information Law request by WNYC/Gothamist, who revealed in 2019 that DAs in all five boroughs keep lists of potentially untrustworthy NYPD officers.

Bed-Stuy's other precinct commander, Deputy Inspector William Glynn, also has a letter in the records, though all complaints included are those already disclosed through his disciplinary records.

The letter does reveal new information about how Glynn was disciplined for the substantiated complaints against him. In one case, he was docked five vacation days for using physical force against someone. In another, where he wrongly frisked someone, he was not disciplined at all, the records show.

The NYPD, Skretch and Glynn did not respond to a request for comment on the disclosures.