These 10 UWS Cops Have Committed Misconduct, New Database Shows

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Ten police officers who currently patrol the Upper West Side have committed some form of misconduct in the past, according to a new trove of NYPD records.

The finding comes from the "Law Enforcement Lookup" database unveiled Monday by the Legal Aid Society, a legal advocacy group, who describe it as the most comprehensive collection of city police misconduct files ever released.

It shows that 10 officers and detectives assigned to the Upper West Side's 20th and 24th Precincts have had complaints against them substantiated by the Civilian Complaint Review Board — meaning the watchdog agency found enough evidence to suggest that the alleged act happened.

Despite the substantiated findings, three of the Upper West Side officers managed to avoid any penalty, which is ultimately decided by the NYPD. Others had to forfeit vacation time or to through additional training.

In some cases, the database shows details about an individual instance of misconduct.

In June 2013, for example, two employees of the City's Department of Consumer Affairs were inspecting a dry cleaner when they parked in a spot reserved for NYPD officers, an investigation reads.

Officer Juan Rodriguez, of the 24th Detective Precinct, told them that the parking space was meant for police and a dispute broke out, before the city employees eventually moved the car, the investigation says.

As the city employees then proceeded to do their inspection, Rodriguez remained at the scene and got another officer for help, before eventually approaching the men again and asking one of them to step out of the car because of his "erratic behavior and heavy accent," the investigation reads.

Rodriguez then pulled the man out of the car and frisked him, the investigation says.

In the end, he was forced to forfeit vacation days.

In total, 19 complaints have been substantiated against the 10 Upper West Side officers, some of whom faced multiple complaints for the same incident.

Here are those substantiated complaints, according to the Legal Aid database.

• Timothy Kraft, 20th Precinct Detective: Abuse of Authority, Question and/or stop and Vehicle search allegations, given additional training and forfeited five days of vacation.
• Bryant Pineda, 24th Precinct Officer: Abuse of Authority, Strip-search allegation, no penalty.
• Mourad Arslanbeck, 24th Precinct Detective: Force, Physical Force allegation, no penalty.
• Kris Kalmanowicz, 24th Precinct Detective: Discourtesy, Use of a word allegation, given additional training.
• Robert Tunis, 24th Precinct Officer, Abuse of Authority, Stop and Frisk and Strip Search allegations, given additional training.
• Canisius Xavier: 20th Precinct Officer, Abuse of Authority and Force, Stop and Hit Against Inanimate Object allegation, unspecified discipline.
• Alan Hassel: 24th Precinct Sergeant, Abuse of Authority, Frisk allegation, no penalty.
• Neil Zuber: 20th Precinct Deputy Inspector, Abuse of Authority, Search of person allegation, no discipline.
• Juan Rodriguez: 24th Precinct Detective: Abuse of Authority and False Official Statement, Frisk, Stop, Search and Physical Force allegations, Forfeited 30 days of vacation.
• Michael McGuire: 20th Precinct Officer: Force, Restricted Breathing allegation, penalty is pending.

Legal Aid describes its new database as a tool that New Yorkers can use to get information about officers they encounter on the street.

An everyday New Yorker who had what they believe was a "bad" traffic stop, for example, can use the database to delve into the officer’s past, said Jennvine Wong, a staff attorney with The Legal Aid Society’s Cop Accountability Project.

"It’s a one-stop lookup tool," she said.

Pat Lynch, the president of the powerful Police Benevolent Association union, blasted the database as nothing new, given most of it has already been publicly available.

"This isn’t really about 'transparency' – it’s about advancing the anti-police narrative and making it easier for cop-haters to target individual police officers," he said in a statement. "It’s yet another reason that New York City police officers are quitting at record rates."

The database includes, according to The Legal Aid Society:

• more than 18,000 lawsuits filed against more than 14,000 NYPD officers between 2013 and June 30, 2022;
• more than 190,000 Civilian Complaint Review Board records of allegations made against NYPD officers, including more than 1,000 full investigation closing reports obtained through FOIL requests and from partner organizations;
• about 9,000 NYPD internal misconduct records, including NYPD trial decisions and NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau records;
• nearly 15,000 District Attorney and judicial records, including Brady and Giglio disclosures from prosecutors, and DA “adverse credibility” records from four New York City counties;
• NYPD and DOC payroll and roster data for all currently employed members of service;
• more than 1,000 archived media articles concerning NYPD officer misconduct; and
• hundreds of DOC staff discipline records.

Patch reporters Matt Troutman and Nick Garber contributed to this report.