NYPD Cop Who Slept With Witness Won't Be Fired, Commissioner Says

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY - An NYPD officer who officials say slept with a witness in a 2021 Washington Heights carjacking case was slated for termination until the city’s top cop swooped in, records show.

Police Officer Willie Thompson, assigned to the 30th precinct detective squad since 2021, reportedly engaged in a months-long sexual relationship with a witness in a May 23, 2021 incident in which he was the investigating officer, according to a trial decision released by the NYPD last month.

Thompson was charged last year with having a sexual relationship with a witness, being a threat to a witness and making a false official statement, per NYPD records. He only pleaded guilty to the first charge and was later found not guilty of the false official statement charge.

Following a December 2022 disciplinary hearing before Assistant Deputy Commissioner Trials Jeff S. Adler, the official recommended Thompson be dismissed from the police department, calling Thompson’s behavior “deeply troubling, in a way that damages the reputation and integrity of the department.”

But in a memo dated Sept. 29, NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban apparently reversed the pink slip decision.

“Having read … and analyzed the facts of this matter, I approve of the findings, but disapprove the penalty,” Caban wrote. “While a severe penalty is warranted for the misconduct, separation from the department is not necessary.”

Caban instead decided Thompson must forfeit 30 vacation days and be placed on a year dismissal probation.

A request for comment from Thompson's attorney was not immediately returned.

According to NYPD documents, Thompson and the witness had been meeting each other several times per week since at least July 2021 and regularly went out for meals together.

In one instance, Thompson reportedly drove the witness home from the Manhattan Assistant District Attorney’s Office for an unrelated domestic violence incident about September 2021 in which the pair behaved in a “flirtatious” manner, showing each other messages on their phones as well as laughing and whispering to each other.

When Thompson and the witness were scheduled to meet Assistant District Attorney Yuval Simchi-Levi on Sept. 14, 2021 to discuss the carjacking and the witness didn't appear, Thompson reportedly told the ADA that, when she is upset, she "may exaggerate things," per NYPD records.

The witness reportedly told Simchi-Levi via text messages the same day that Thompson “did something he wasn’t supposed to do,” was “manipulating" and "crooked."

NYPD records allege Thompson kept up the relationship after the encounters came to the attention of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and even made a false statement to Simchi-Levi in which he denied the relationship. Thompson reportedly corrected his statement with the Police Accountability Unit the next day after he denied the allegation on Sept. 22, 2021. He also told officials the reason he didn't initially disclose was because he was with his family when he was initially questioned about the relationship, per NYPD records.

The witness also told Simchi-Levi she had seen Thompson inside a bodega a week after Thompson's admission, who reportedly said that "this was all happening because of her, and that police officers from the precinct would be coming to her home," per the report.

Thompson has been assigned to the 30th precinct detective squad in Harlem since July 2021 and has been employed with the NYPD since 2015. Thompson had no formal disciplinary history prior to the incident and has been awarded 15 medals since 2016, police records show.

“Due to the seriousness of the misconduct in this matter, in addition to the forfeiture of vacation days, a period of close monitoring is warranted,” Caban said.