NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- Ex-Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins was found guilty Friday in two disciplinary cases that were fast-tracked after he announced his retirement last month.
Mullins was docked a combined 70 vacation days as a result of the cases conducted by the Civilian Complaint Review Board and NYPD officials, which will cost him about $31,900, according to department officials.
Mullins was found guilty of making the arrest information about Mayor Bill de Blasio’s daughter public after a George Floyd protest demonstration.
He was also penalized for tweets calling Rep. Ritchie Torres a “first class whore” and referring to former NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot as a “b---h.”
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Each tweet at Torres and Barbot garnered a 20-day penalty, according to the CCRB, while the de Blasio-related case garnered 30, police said.
“No member of the New York City Police Department, regardless of any other status, may violate the rules of the department and engage in conduct unbecoming a police officer," said NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea. "Regardless of one’s position as a union leader, as long as they are still a police officer, they will be held to the laws, regulations, and standards of conduct required of all members of the service. Simply speaking: this behavior was unacceptable.”
Mullins defended the tweets at his trial, saying of Barbot, “We lost quite a few people from COVID, and the health commissioner refused to give them any kind of personal protection equipment,” according to the Post.
Mullins was the president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association before resigning earlier this month after an FBI raid of his Long Island home and the SBA’s Manhattan headquarters.
Mullins agreed to step down upon the request of the union “given the severity of this matter and uncertainty of the outcome.”
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In relation to the raids, an FBI spokeswoman told the Daily News the bureau was “carrying out a law enforcement action in connection with an ongoing investigation” into the police union.
Mullins filed for retirement on Oct. 6, effective Friday, so the CCRB sped up the proceedings in order to resolve the investigations before that time.
CCRB Chair Fred Davie said he was disappointed in the result of the case, saying the punishment should have been more severe.
“Sgt. Mullins admitted to purposefully tweeting profane messages about two separate public servants and showed no remorse for these actions. This is in direct violation of the NYPD code of conduct and when applying the NYPD's disciplinary matrix correctly, the resulting penalty is termination,” said Davie.
“While these two cases alone were more than sufficient to warrant termination, when combined with the NYPD’s investigation into Sgt. Mullins release of the Mayor’s child’s arrest record, it is clear that the appropriate punishment for Sgt. Mullins should have been termination from the NYPD,” Davie continued.
Officials denoted that because of Mullins' 20+ years of service, there wasn't a legal way to prevent him from getting his pension.