He went past the decision of obligation.
An NYPD officer was hit with hefty fines final month for harassing a frequent 311 caller a number of years in the past with telephone messages through which the officer imitated a former beau, then performed recordings of sheep, dolphins and seals.
The infantile member of New York’s Best, Brendan Sullivan, was apparently retaliating towards 52-year-old Brooklynite Paul Vogel as a result of Vogel referred to as the grievance line tons of of occasions to report police cruisers and FDNY vans that usually park on town’s sidewalks and crosswalks, in accordance with the New York Instances.
Sullivan admitted leaving six weird messages on Vogel’s telephone between March 2021 and January 2022 that ranged from odd to outright creepy — like when the cop imitated a lady’s breathless voice as he pretended to be Vogel’s former lover.
“Hello Paul, simply calling to see you the way you’re doing,” Sullivan stated within the recording obtained by The Instances. “I believed I noticed you on Vanderbilt however I suppose not. I attempted to wave you down.”
“I simply wish to let you already know that I miss you,” he continued. “I hope you choose up my name subsequent time. You’re nonetheless the most effective I ever had. I hope you continue to dream about me. I like you child. Bye Paulie V.”
In one other unusual message, Sullivan performed recordings of dolphins, seals and sheep cackling and bleating — then hung up.
Different occasions, he chanted Vogel’s first identify and demanded he reply his calls.
The six voicemails — first reported by Streetsblog, a transportation information web site — had been revealed after town’s Division of Investigation started wanting into cops who retaliated towards New Yorkers who complained about unlawful parking.
Now Sullivan, a 17-year-vet, can pay the value: a $500 tremendous to town’s Conflicts of Curiosity Board, which discovered he’d tried to “discourage a citizen from exercising his constitutional proper about authorities motion,” the Instances stated.
The member of the 77th Precinct — who has since been placed on modified obligation — may also lose 60 days’ value of go away, which is value about $25,000.
Vogel, for his half, advised the Instances that the punishment was “fairly important for what are in the end some prank calls.”
“Then again, the man is a cop and he harassed a civilian,” he continued. “The concept that somebody who would try this of their official capability nonetheless has a badge and a gun doesn’t make me really feel very nice.”
The NYPD would solely say that it was “devoted to making sure pedestrian security for all New Yorkers.”
Vogel stated he started calling 311 typically through the pandemic as a result of he was pissed off that first responders typically parked on sidewalks, in crosswalks and in entrance of fireside hydrants, he stated.
“It’s not a minor factor,” he stated. “It places folks in peril.”
Vogel, a fundraiser for Deliberate Parenthood, is effectively conscious of his frequent-flyer standing, however implied that it’s one thing of a interest.
“Some folks play Sweet Crush,” he advised the Instances. “I used to be a routine reporter of these items.”
He’s not the one one — so many individuals had been complaining concerning the illegally parked cruisers earlier this yr that the Southern District of New York threatened to sue the Huge Apple in the event that they didn’t cease.
Nevertheless it seems solely Vogel suffered their phone-line wrath.
The Brooklyn district lawyer investigated the case, however stated there was no felony conduct, the Instances stated.
It isn’t the primary time Sullivan has been in sizzling water.
9 years in the past, the officer misplaced 30 trip days after the NYPD discovered he’d despatched one other cop, who’s Jewish, images of lifeless our bodies from the Holocaust and an image of Hitler giving his one-armed Nazi salute, the Instances stated.
The sufferer, David Attali, retired in 2014 due to the alleged abuse, which got here from different cops as effectively.
He sued town a yr later — and through the deposition, Sullivan claimed “We had a joking relationship.”
“I didn’t discover them offensive to him,” he stated.
Town settled in 2019, the Instances stated.
However Sullivan’s actions towards Vogel had been completely an abuse of energy — and that might have a wider chilling impact, in accordance with John Kaehny, a 311 advocate who’s now the chief director of watchdog group Reinvent Albany.
“It wrecks the efficacy of 311, which stays and is crucial accountability software, in need of voting, that folks have.”
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