Docs Reveal History Of Complaints Against Park Slope Top Cop: DA

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A trove of internal documents released by Brooklyn prosecutors this week reveal a history of complaints against Park Slope's new top cop, including an ongoing investigation 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 Capt. Frantz Souffrant, who took over the 78th Precinct earlier this year.

Souffrant has faced a civil lawsuit, been disciplined twice by the NYPD and is currently the subject of a case with the Civilian Complaint Review Board, according to a letter compiled by the office.

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, according to the DA.

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."

The complaints against Souffrant date back as far as 2010, when he stopped, frisked and searched the car of a 41-year-old Black man without the legal authority to do so, according to the letter.

The incident led to an investigation with the Civilian Complaint Review Board and an internal NYPD investigation, both of which substantiated the allegation, the letter shows. Souffrant, at the time with the 75th Precinct, was docked two vacation days by the department, according to the letter.

Two years later, Souffrant was named in a civil lawsuit brought by a man who said officers tracked him down and arrested him for recording another arrest on his cell phone. Souffrant was identified as one of several officers who "participated in and/or failed to intervene" with the man's arrest, which was eventually dismissed, according to the lawsuit.

The case was eventually settled, with the officers denying liability and the city agreeing to pay the man $20,000, court records show.

Souffrant was investigated again by the NYPD in 2014 for failing to notify the Internal Affairs Bureau, though the letter doesn't specify the context of this incident.

The most recent disclosure in the letter is a Civilian Complaint Review Board investigation stemming from June 15, 2020. The nature of the investigation, which is likely still pending, is redacted from the letter.

Both the NYPD and Souffrant did not respond to a request for comment on the disclosures.

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.