NYC NOW - Midday News: Mangione Pleads Not Guilty, Amtrak Delays Persist, Record crowds Expected at Port Authority, and Multiple Investigations Into Former NYPD Official Jeffrey Maddrey Underway

Episode Date: December 23, 2024

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Monday, December 23rd. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. For our top story, the manacues of shooting and killing, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside and Midtown Hotel pleaded not guilty this morning to first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism and other state charges in a Manhattan courtroom, Luigi Manjian. Manjone also faces federal charges, Mangione remains jailed awaiting trial. If your holiday plans include Amtrak, you might want to check the app before you go.

Amtrak says riders in and out of New York should expect significant delays today after downed overhead wires temporarily suspended all servers between New York and Philadelphia over the weekend. All trains between Washington Union Station and Boston South Station could be affected, and some trains are canceled entirely to minimize other delays. Expect record crowds at Port Authority airports and crossings if you're traveling for the holidays. WNMIC's Catalina Gonella reports. The Port Authority is expecting 13.8 million travelers through January 2nd. Nearly 5.2 million passengers will pass through JFK, Newark, LaGuardia, and Stewart airports.

Officials say construction at JFK could cause delays and their urging to. travelers to arrive early. Two hours for domestic flights, three for international. Non-emergency roadwork at bridges and tunnels is paused through January 1st to avoid surcharges, pre-book airport parking and considered public transit. More tips and real-time updates are available on the Port Authority website. 22 with sunshine now, sunny in the high of 29 as we stay below the phrasing mark. Real field is cold as 15. Chance of snow showers overnight. and 29. And then tomorrow, chance of snow showers by early afternoon, a higher of 38. Stay close. There's more after the break.

The NYPD is being rocked by scandal. Jeffrey Mandri, a former top NYPD official, abruptly resigned Friday night hours before charges of sexual misconduct were filed. Now there are multiple investigations. WNMICC's Elizabeth Kim joins us this morning to explain what has happened here. Liz. his name plenty of times, but would you tell us, first of all, who is Jeffrey Madri? Sure. Jeffrey Madri is the chief of department. The chief of department is the second highest ranking officer in the NYPD. That's second only to the commissioner. And he's the highest ranking uniformed officer. He started working in the NYPD in 1991, and he worked his way up the ranks.

He was promoted to Chief of Department in 2022. That was Mayor Adams' first year. Now, despite becoming Chief of Department, he had a controversial history. In 2016, he was accused of forcing a subordinate to have a sexual relationship with him. The accuser filed a lawsuit in both federal and state court. Both cases, however, were ultimately dismissed. But then in 2021, he got in trouble. for intervening in the arrest of a retired police officer

who was seen chasing three boys while armed. And most recently, he was named in a lawsuit by a female captain who accused him of unwanted sexual advances. She says that Madri would try to visit her at her precinct and that she'd hide in the office with the lights off. Now, let's talk about these allegations. How did these come to light? The latest accusations come from a woman lieutenant, Quatisha Epps.

She gave a very detailed interview to the New York Post that ran on Saturday morning. Essentially, she says that Madri coerced her into a sexual relationship and that he traded sexual favors for overtime. Now, as I said, the story published early Saturday morning, not long afterwards, Commissioner Tisch announced that there was an interim chief of department. And then she released a separate statement confirming that she had indeed accepted Madre's resignation on Friday night and that the NYPD is launching an investigation. Then we learned that the attorney for the accuser had, in fact, filed charges to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

This is generally the first step to filing a federal lawsuit. then soon after that we learned there there is both a city and a federal investigation by the afternoon district Manhattan district attorney alvin bragg announces that he's also launching an investigation and then after that the commissioner says that she has replaced the head of internal affairs now this is the unit within the NYPD that is charged with fighting corruption within the agency has mandatory responded to the accusations You know, we tried to reach out to him for a comment, but we were unsuccessful. I have not seen any statement, you know, in the press.

Mayor Adams, as we know, was a police officer. Has he responded to the allegations? So on Saturday, his press secretary issued a statement saying that the mayor's office was deeply disturbed by the allegations and added that, you know, as we know, the NYPD is investigating the matter. What she also said is that the commissioner will be conducting a separate review to, quote, ensure that no high-ranking officers are using their power inappropriately. But other than that, the mayor has generally tried to refrain from comment on these ongoing investigations.

What we do know, though, is the mayor has spoken positively of Madre in the past. you know, during the 2021 incident with the retired officer that I talked about, then police commissioner Kishant-Soul had wanted to punish him by docking him up to 10 vacation days. But ultimately, she didn't, and she quit, and under the new police commissioner, the charges were dropped. Or the case was dismissed, I should say. Liz, a few seconds left here. What does this say, if anything, about the department? and do we know what these multiple investigations are looking into?

Well, certainly it's going to look at OT abuse, overtime abuse. The city spent more than $270 million on overtime last year, and this is a chronic issue that is talked about over and over again, especially in the city council. Why does the NYPD chronically go over overtime? The other issue that could be under investigation is this is not the first, time that women have lodged complaints about sexual harassment, sexual misconduct against male officers in the NYPD. In fact, you know, there is a case, a civil case against the mayor

himself from a former transit colleague. The mayor has denied any wrongdoing in that case, but there certainly does seem to be a pattern here. Termoil at the NYPD. Our guest has been WNIC reporter Elizabeth Kim. Liz, thank you. Thank you, Michael. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives.

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