On Thu, Aug 1, 2013 at 12:33 AM, a href="mailto:psaas4017@aol.com">psaas4017@aol.com> wrote:

Two Officers Force African-American Police Chief from SUV

July 31, 2013 | Filed under: News | Posted by: Aaron J.

Douglas Zeigler

By Aaron D. Johnson

One officer has been disciplined in what is seemingly a case of stupidity, mistaken identity, or stop and frisk profiling. In the NYPD’s latest episode of how not to do police work, plainclothes officers ordered the highest ranking African-American uninformed officer out of his vehicle. The off duty three star police chief was parked in Queens at the time.

The Community Affairs Bureau head, Chief Douglas Zeigler, was in his NYPD issued vehicle near a fire hydrant at the time of his interaction with two plainclothes officers on May 2.

One officer walked up on each side of the SUV and told the driver to roll down the heavily tinted windows, sources said.

What happened next is in dispute.  The chief’s account and that of the officers differ in key ways.

According to sources, in his briefing to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, Zeigler stated that the two white officers had no legitimate reason at all to approach the vehicle. Not only did they order him out of his SUV but one of the officers didn’t believe the NYPD identification Zeigler produced upon request.

The cops gave a different account:

One of the officers claims to have seen the chief’s service weapon and yelled “gun.” This led to both officers raising their weapons in Zeigler’s direction, requesting that he get out of the SUV.

Sources said that Zeigler stated, “Don’t you know I am,” instead of identifying himself.

Sources also asserted, Zeigler allegedly pushed one of the officers as he attempted to check the authenticity of the badge and identification hanging around his neck. After this altercation, he identified that he was an officer and made them aware of his rank.

In his discussions with Kelly, Zeigler maintains that the officers never yelled “Gun!”

One officer foolishly decided to have a heated exchange with the police chief even after seeing his credentials. He has been stripped of his gun and badge and placed on modified duty. The status of the second officer is unclear at the time this article was published.

The incident occurred as the NYPD is under fire for record numbers of pedestrians being stopped and frisked, the majority of them black or Hispanic.