FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Complaint alleges NYPD turned an alleged sexual assault inside One Police Plaza into a retaliatory leak investigation, then punished Terrell without a trial, plea, finding of guilt, or final disciplinary determination

New York, N.Y. — June 20, 2026 — Eric Sanders, Esq., of The Sanders Firm, P.C. announces a new human-rights lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court, New York County, alleges that Police Commissioner JESSICA S. TISCH’s own words exposed the retaliatory motive behind NYPD discipline imposed against retired Detective 2nd Grade DAVID R. TERRELL.

According to the complaint, Tisch allegedly stated, in substance, that she “hated” Terrell’s attorney, Eric Sanders, Salvatore J. Greco, and The Sal Greco Show. The complaint further alleges that Tisch admitted, in substance, that she did not know defendant EDWARD A. THOMPSON was going to take the challenged action against Terrell.

The lawsuit alleges those statements were not stray remarks. They were the window into the case.

“This lawsuit begins where the cover story ends,” said attorney Eric Sanders of The Sanders Firm, P.C. “The complaint alleges that Commissioner Tisch said she hated the lawyer, hated Sal Greco, and hated The Sal Greco Show. Then NYPD used an unproven disciplinary theory to suspend Mr. Terrell, ignore his written response, avoid a trial, and punish him after retirement. Those allegations describe retaliation, not discipline.”

Terrell, who self-identifies as Black and/or African-American, has sued THE CITY OF NEW YORK, Commissioner JESSICA S. TISCH, Deputy Commissioner Department Advocate TAREK A. RAHMAN, EDWARD A. THOMPSON, JOSEPH A. DIBARTOLOMEO, KENNETH J. HARSCH, ANDREW T. JACKSON, JEFFREY K. ARCEO, the DETECTIVES ENDOWMENT ASSOCIATION POLICE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF NEW YORK INC., and SCOTT D. MUNRO.

The complaint alleges violations of the New York State Human Rights Law and the New York City Human Rights Law, including race discrimination, retaliation, and interference.

The case arises from a reported sexual assault inside One Police Plaza, NYPD headquarters. According to the complaint, that allegation should have been treated as a serious workplace-safety, sexual-harassment, hostile-work-environment, criminal, and public-integrity matter inside the headquarters of the largest police department in the country.

Instead, the complaint alleges, NYPD leadership changed the subject.

Rather than focus on the reported sexual assault, the complaint alleges defendants shifted the machinery of Internal Affairs toward an alleged leak investigation. The target became Terrell, who defendants allegedly associated with Salvatore J. Greco and The Sal Greco Show, a public-facing podcast and media platform that reports on NYPD management, police corruption, disciplinary abuse, retaliation, union failures, public-integrity failures, sexual misconduct, and other matters of public concern.

“The reported sexual assault was the issue,” Sanders said. “The alleged leak became the weapon.”

According to the complaint, defendants EDWARD A. THOMPSON and JOSEPH A. DIBARTOLOMEO used Internal Affairs Bureau Group 1 investigators KENNETH J. HARSCH, ANDREW T. JACKSON, and JEFFREY K. ARCEO to investigate alleged leaks concerning the reported sexual assault. The complaint alleges that Harsch, Jackson, and Arceo did not conduct a neutral, independent, or detached investigation. Instead, they allegedly allowed themselves to be used as investigative proxies for Thompson and DiBartolomeo.

During a several-hour Internal Affairs interview, Harsch, Jackson, and Arceo allegedly repeatedly stopped questioning Terrell to consult with Thompson. According to the complaint, those interruptions showed that the interview was not independent fact-gathering. It was coordinated pressure.

The complaint alleges that defendants never identified the specific confidential or non-public information Terrell supposedly disclosed. They never produced competent proof of dissemination. They never interviewed Salvatore J. Greco, the alleged recipient and central witness to the Department’s disclosure theory.

Yet NYPD still served Terrell with Charges and Specifications under CHIA No. 2026-986 / IAB Log No. 2026-11051 and imposed a thirty-day suspension without pay.

Terrell, through counsel, served a written response and demand for dismissal. The response challenged the lack of proof, the failure to identify the specific information allegedly disclosed, the failure to interview Greco, and the false characterization of a reported sexual assault inside One Police Plaza as a non-Department-related matter.

According to the complaint, defendants TISCH and RAHMAN never answered that response.

They did not conduct a Department trial.

They did not obtain a plea.

They did not obtain a finding of guilt.

They did not obtain any final disciplinary or judicial finding establishing misconduct.

But the punishment did not stop when Terrell retired.

The complaint alleges that after retirement, defendants treated unresolved and unproven allegations as if they were proven misconduct. According to the lawsuit, defendants denied Terrell a Good Guy Letter or NYPD equivalent, failed to issue or provide an unrestricted retired identification card, seized or withheld terminal leave and other earned benefits, impaired his ability to obtain or maintain handgun-related authorization, damaged his post-retirement employment opportunities, and injured his reputation, retirement-related standing, and economic interests.

“Hatred is not a disciplinary standard,” Sanders said. “The complaint alleges that Commissioner Tisch’s hostility toward the lawyer, Greco, and The Sal Greco Show infected the process. NYPD cannot use personal animus as a substitute for evidence, and it cannot use accusation as a substitute for adjudication.”

The lawsuit also challenges the role of the Detectives Endowment Association and SCOTT D. MUNRO. According to the complaint, Munro, a Detective First Grade assigned to Auto Crime and acting on union release time for the DEA, met with Tisch several times concerning Terrell and the challenged disciplinary action.

The complaint alleges Tisch’s statements placed Munro and the DEA on actual notice that Terrell’s discipline was infected by retaliatory animus, attorney-related hostility, perceived-association hostility, and hostility toward public criticism of NYPD management.

Despite that notice, the complaint alleges Munro and the DEA failed to protect Terrell. They allegedly failed to demand an answer to Terrell’s written response, failed to demand rescission of the thirty-day suspension, failed to demand dismissal or lawful adjudication of the Charges and Specifications, failed to adequately challenge Thompson’s role, and failed to protect Terrell from post-retirement punishment based on unresolved and unproven allegations.

“When a union learns that the Police Commissioner allegedly hates the lawyer and the media platform connected to a member’s case, silence is not representation,” Sanders said. “The complaint alleges the union had notice and failed to act.”

The lawsuit seeks damages, restoration of lost salary, overtime, terminal leave, accrued time, benefits, and retirement-related compensation, correction and expungement of personnel, disciplinary, and retirement-related records, restoration or lawful reconsideration of post-retirement credentials and firearm-related authorization, attorneys’ fees, costs, interest, and all other relief necessary to remedy the alleged violations.

“This case is about what happens when power stops pretending to be neutral,” Sanders said. “The alleged words were crude. The process was worse. Detective Terrell was entitled to proof, a fair process, and a lawful adjudication. Instead, the complaint alleges he got retaliation wrapped in NYPD letterhead.”

The allegations in the complaint are allegations. The defendants have not yet answered, and no court has made findings on the merits.

About The Sanders Firm, P.C.

The Sanders Firm, P.C. is a New York-based law firm focused on civil rights, immigration, employment discrimination, police misconduct, and other high-stakes matters. Its founder and president, Eric Sanders, Esq., is a retired NYPD officer who brings a rare inside perspective to the intersection of government power, public institutions, enforcement discretion, and constitutional accountability.

For more than twenty years, Sanders has counseled thousands of clients and handled complex matters involving police use of force, sexual harassment, retaliation, systemic discrimination, immigration consequences, and related civil-rights violations. He is widely recognized as a leading New York civil-rights attorney and a prominent voice on evidence-based policing, institutional accountability, equal justice, and rights-based immigration advocacy.

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Read the Verified Complaint

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