NYC NOW - Midday News: NYPD Probes Allegations Against Maddrey, Police Chief Calls Queens Shooting “Senseless,” Tenants Struggle to Reclaim Security Deposits

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch says the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau is working with law enforcement authorities to investigate allegations against former Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey. Meanwhile, NYPD Chief of Patrol Philip Rivera calls a mass shooting in Queens a “senseless” act of violence as investigations continue. Plus, WNYC’s David Brand reports on the difficulties NYC tenants face when suing landlords to recover security deposits or resolve disputes in small claims court.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Thursday, January 2nd. Here's the midday news from Veronica Del Valle. Law enforcement has searched the home of former NYPD chief of department Jeffrey Madre. In a social media post this morning, Commissioner Jessica Tisch says the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau is working with law enforcement authorities to investigate allegations against Madri. Madri resigned abruptly last month after allegations he demanded sexual favors from a subordinate. He is denied wrongdoing and was still on track to retire after his resignation. Tish says Madre has now been suspended. The Manhattan

District Attorney's Office has said it's investigating. Tish today referred questions to the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Police aren't investigating after a late-night mass shooting outside an event space in Queens yesterday sent 10 people to the hospital. The NYPD says that the shooting happened just after 11 when a group of four men opened fire on a line outside Amazura Concert Hall in Jamaica. They fired around 30 rounds into the crowd of mostly teenagers. Officials say all the people shot sustained non-life-threatening injuries and are expected to recover. New NYPD chief of patrol, Philip Rivera, called the shooting a senseless act of violence. Let me start by saying that there's zero

tolerance for these senseless shootings. And those responsible for this crime will be apprehended and brought to justice. Rivera also says that the shooting was not an act of terrorism. Authorities have yet to make any arrests. Up next, every year, thousands of tenants battle to get their security deposits back from landlords. More on that after the break. Thousands of New York City tenants contact the state attorney. Attorney General to sue their landlords in small claims court or recover their security deposits each year. As WNYC's David Brand reports, getting the money can be a challenge. At the sterile building that houses the small claims court in downtown Brooklyn, a clerk

behind a counter hands out paperwork to a line of people. So that out, put in today's date, print your name, sign your name, and come back as soon as you're done. See, like the pro with this now. Yeah, I've been here so many times. It's so annoying. Alice Lau is back in this courthouse for the fifth time. She's here because when she and her roommate moved out of a two-bedroom apartment in Greenpoint, their landlord refused to return their $4,400 security deposit, even though she says they left the place spotless.

So they sued. And when the landlord didn't show up to court, they won. A judge awarded them their deposit check plus interest. That was in April. We just assumed that if we went through this process, that it would be, ruled in our favor and that everything would eventually work out. But it didn't work out. Eight months later, they still didn't have their money. So she restarted her lawsuit. I was very angry at the beginning, but I honestly, I feel like

it's more like a justice principle thing. Like I really and just feel so wrong and like I, I can still do something. So like, why shouldn't I? This happens a lot. That's NYU housing law professor, Tish Norey. He says the process for getting a security deposit back is ridiculously long and often ends in failure. It's too hard for people to fight. They don't have the time, they don't have the energy, or they're just, they moved out of town. That's despite the fact that the law around security deposits is very clear. Either landlord returns the money or requires landlords to provide an itemized receipt for any damages to the apartment within 14 days of the time. tenants moving out. But what if the landlords don't do that? There are no official estimates for how

often landlords don't follow the rules. But the New York Attorney General's office says it's received nearly 5,000 complaints about unreturned security deposits in just the last two years. That's up from previous years. And housing experts like Norie say it amounts to huge losses for the city's renters. There are tens of thousands of people moving every year. That's real money. And I think this is a multi-hundred million dollar problem annually. But Lau, who moved out of that Greenpoint apartment last year, isn't just one of many New Yorkers who didn't get their security deposit back. She's one of many who didn't get their deposit back from the same landlord.

Is this it right here? This is the building with all of the lovely pumpkins outside. Both of those windows were actually my bedroom. Alexandria Glasper moved out of this building in Bedstuy in August 2023. The landlord's name is Chess Parnes. He owns at least eight buildings across the Bronx in Brooklyn, including Lau's old place. The state attorney general's office says it's received 14 complaints about him. And five of his former tenants told WNYC he wrongly withheld their security deposits, including Glasper.

It's just been, you know, like trying to chase a ghost to get money back, which is ridiculous. She put the cost of her move on a credit card, so when Parns didn't return her $1,250, deposit, it was a problem. The first few months, I was really struggling because I just felt like I couldn't catch up to the moving expenses. Like, I feel like I was paying them down and paying them down and then paying interest. And it was like a nightmare, all because I didn't have that money. A judge awarded her half her deposit plus interest after she filed her own lawsuit.

Once again, Parns didn't show up to court. But she still doesn't have her money back. So I asked Parns about all the complaints and court judgments for unreturned security deposits. So it seems like from what the tenants are saying that this is a pattern. I'm telling you, I have a reason why it's, if I didn't give it back, I have a reason why. And he says he should have shown up to court to explain those reasons. That's WNYC reporter David Brand, who later caught up with my colleague David first to talk more about his reporting. David, it sounds like you didn't get much of an explanation from this landlord.

That's right. I had a number of conversations with him. and it was hard to get a straight answer. He said share the names of the tenants who were complaining and who had went to the Attorney General and sued in small claims court. He said he looked through his business records. We talked a few days later. He said he thought one of the tenants moved later

than she was supposed to, and that's why he said he might have withheld her security deposit but didn't really have much information. And I will say, though, that in the days after we spoke, two of the tenants did tell me that Parns made the payments to them. Okay. Well, I think the question on many people's minds will be, what do I do if I find myself in this situation? Well, there are a couple options. So I guess, you know, if you find yourself texting and calling and emailing and maybe even meeting with the landlord and they're still not

returning your money, you can file a complaint with the state attorney general, which a number of these tenants did. The attorney general will reach out to the landlord to try to resolve the dispute. but they will only take it so far. And if the landlord doesn't respond, they are not going to really pursue it after that. So at that point, tenants have the option of going to small claims court for amounts under $10,000. It's a lengthy process. And as you heard from some of these tenants, it doesn't always result in the resolution they hope for. Experts, attorneys say that tenants should bring photos, videos, texts, any kind of correspondence they've had with the landlord to court.

and then be prepared to wait. Is there a way to check in advance whether a landlord has a history of not returning security deposits, you know, to check before you move into an apartment? It's tricky. You can go to small claims court potentially and ask for any records related to the landlord or often a limited liability company listed as owner of the property. But that information is hard to get. It's not published online.

There are some other ways you might be able to find it. Sometimes tenants leave Google reviews about the landlord, especially if it's a company. That's what some of these tenants did and how I was able to find a few of them. There are some websites that are, you know, position themselves as resources for tenants to review landlords. And you can check that way. But it's actually pretty rare. One option is to also go on the state court's website, which will list other kinds of lawsuits involving the tenant, whether that's the landlord trying to evict a tenant, or in some cases the tenants suing the landlord, sometimes the city suing the landlord because

there are problems in the building. Man, a Google review for a restaurant can be harsh. I can only imagine the Google reviews for landlords. Yeah, some of them are not very pretty. WNYC's David Brand. Thank you. Thanks a lot. Thanks for listening.

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