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Repeated charges of illegal searches, violence, racial profiling, racial slurs and intimidation against Lt. Daniel Sbarra and his team have cost the city more than $1.5 million in settlements
Victims say Sbarra is a 'ticking time bomb' as the Brooklyn North Narcotics lieutenant is involved in 15 lawsuits. The NYPD says charges are meritless and that narcs are often targets
NYPD veteran Daniel Sbarra donned his dress blues on Aug. 2, 2011, and headed to One Police Plaza — where Commissioner Raymond Kelly, a promotion and a pay raise awaited.
Kelly shook his hand. And targets of Sbarra’s crude and costly police tactics were left shaking their heads.
The Brooklyn North Narcotics sergeant with 15 years on the job made lieutenant despite years of on-the-job conduct some say raises serious questions about whether he should still have his badge.
A Daily News investigation of Sbarra and his team of cops exposed repeated charges of illegal searches, unprovoked violence, racial profiling, racial slurs and intimidation that cost the city more than $1.5 million in settlements.
The figure could rise: Nine of the nearly 60 lawsuits filed against the accused rogue cops are still pending.
Sbarra is involved in at least 15 of the suits — others involving his team reference various John and Jane Doe officers, whose names typically don’t come to light when there are quick settlements. He’s been the target of five to 10 Internal Affairs investigations, the lieutenant acknowledged in a deposition. And he’s racked up a staggering 30 civilian complaints, among the most on the force.
City settlements involving the 37-year-old married father total nearly $500,000.
Just four months before his promotion, court papers say, Sbarra lost 20 days of vacation after an Internal Affairs probe into an unauthorized search of an ex-Marine’s apartment. His union head said Sbarra pleaded guilty to the department charges because he couldn’t get promoted until the case was closed out.
Critics say Sbarra’s promotion, despite his stunning string of lawsuits and civilian complaints, is indicative of how the NYPD turns a blind eye to the mountains of litigation filed against it every year, and its nonchalant attitude toward police misconduct.
“While his case is extensive, it’s also emblematic of the department’s lack of aggressive oversight of officers engaged in abusive conduct,” said Robert Gangi, director of the Police Reform Organizing Project for the Urban Justice Center.
Gangi said while some criminals and dealers certainly know how to game the system, “when an officer has been sued 15 times, and when there are 30 (Civilian Complaint Review Board) complaints . . . Where there’s this much smoke, there’s fire.”
The News found Sbarra’s NYPD record, dating back to 2004, was more jailhouse than precinct house. He cut his teeth in the Bronx before working some of Brooklyn’s toughest neighborhoods, including Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick.
“There’s a reason Brooklyn North Narcotics are called the ‘Body Snatchers,’ ” said civil rights lawyer Paul Hale, whose client recently won a $75,000 settlement, saying he was twice wrongfully arrested by Sbarra’s team. “They don’t care if you’re innocent or guilty. They just want to make arrests at any cost.”
In Sbarra’s case, court documents revealed an assortment of jaw-dropping charges. Among the allegations:
- He and a second cop, with black tape over their badge numbers, called a young Brooklyn barbershop owner a “n-----” during a traffic stop in Bushwick. Settlement: $19,500, including $1,000 Sbarra had to pay out of his own pocket after the city, in a rare move, refused to represent him. Sbarra was found guilty of departmental charges related to the incident, but “Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly dismissed all charges,” Sbarra said in a 2012 deposition.
His officers brutally beat a Brooklyn man, yanking out a handful of dreadlocks and bashing his head into a window at the 81st Precinct stationhouse, as the man’s 11-year-old son watched in horror. The little boy was recovering from leukemia. Settlement: $50,000.
-He insisted Hale’s client, who already lost a tooth in an arrest a year earlier, swallowed drugs on a Bushwick street. The Brooklyn man was left handcuffed to a bed at Woodhull Hospital for seven hours before being released because no drugs were found. Sbarra never followed up on the case with the hospital, even though he is required to by law. Settlement: $75,000.
“He’s like a ticking time bomb,” said city employee Tanya Reeves, who was arrested then released without charges in 2010 after Sbarra ordered his officers to break down her Bed-Stuy apartment door with a battering ram.
Sbarra declined comment when approached by The News at his home last week.
Despite the piles of allegations and the pricey payouts, the $102,000-a-year lieutenant said in a 2012 deposition he was never disciplined for his then-12 lawsuits, and was promoted four months after he was docked 20 vacation days due to an Internal Affairs investigation.
An NYPD spokesman declined to answer detailed questions about several topics: whether there were concerns about the dozens of suits against Sbarra and his officers; why the Police Department doesn’t systematically track and analyze lawsuits involving claims of excessive force; and why Sbarra and his cops were not disciplined after repeated claims of misconduct.
The NYPD’s top spokesman, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, referred questions regarding lawsuits to the city Law Department, which issued a statement.
“Being named in a lawsuit or settlement is not an accurate barometer for evaluating an officer’s conduct,” the statement said. “For example, an officer who works in high-impact roles, such as narcotics or emergency services, is more likely to be sued in his or her line of duty than an officer in a less confrontational role.
“Therefore, these officers should not be punished for being named in a meritless lawsuit that was initiated because of their particular assignments.”
The Law Department issued a followup statement late Friday saying the NYPD does track lawsuits, but refused to elaborate.
All NYPD settlements come without any admission of wrongdoing by the officers, the department or the city.
Sbarra joined the NYPD in 1997, starting in the crime-plagued 40th Precinct, which includes the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx. He was promoted to sergeant six years later and transferred to Brooklyn North Narcotics.
Between 2006 and 2011, nearly five dozen suits were filed against Sbarra and 15 of the officers attached to his team. They were accused of everything from racial profiling to warrantless searches to busting law-abiding citizens on phony charges.
Victims say Sbarra is a 'ticking time bomb' as the Brooklyn North Narcotics lieutenant is involved in 15 lawsuits. The NYPD says charges are meritless and that narcs are often targets
NYPD veteran Daniel Sbarra donned his dress blues on Aug. 2, 2011, and headed to One Police Plaza — where Commissioner Raymond Kelly, a promotion and a pay raise awaited.
Kelly shook his hand. And targets of Sbarra’s crude and costly police tactics were left shaking their heads.
The Brooklyn North Narcotics sergeant with 15 years on the job made lieutenant despite years of on-the-job conduct some say raises serious questions about whether he should still have his badge.
A Daily News investigation of Sbarra and his team of cops exposed repeated charges of illegal searches, unprovoked violence, racial profiling, racial slurs and intimidation that cost the city more than $1.5 million in settlements.
The figure could rise: Nine of the nearly 60 lawsuits filed against the accused rogue cops are still pending.
Sbarra is involved in at least 15 of the suits — others involving his team reference various John and Jane Doe officers, whose names typically don’t come to light when there are quick settlements. He’s been the target of five to 10 Internal Affairs investigations, the lieutenant acknowledged in a deposition. And he’s racked up a staggering 30 civilian complaints, among the most on the force.
City settlements involving the 37-year-old married father total nearly $500,000.
Just four months before his promotion, court papers say, Sbarra lost 20 days of vacation after an Internal Affairs probe into an unauthorized search of an ex-Marine’s apartment. His union head said Sbarra pleaded guilty to the department charges because he couldn’t get promoted until the case was closed out.
Critics say Sbarra’s promotion, despite his stunning string of lawsuits and civilian complaints, is indicative of how the NYPD turns a blind eye to the mountains of litigation filed against it every year, and its nonchalant attitude toward police misconduct.
“While his case is extensive, it’s also emblematic of the department’s lack of aggressive oversight of officers engaged in abusive conduct,” said Robert Gangi, director of the Police Reform Organizing Project for the Urban Justice Center.
Gangi said while some criminals and dealers certainly know how to game the system, “when an officer has been sued 15 times, and when there are 30 (Civilian Complaint Review Board) complaints . . . Where there’s this much smoke, there’s fire.”
The News found Sbarra’s NYPD record, dating back to 2004, was more jailhouse than precinct house. He cut his teeth in the Bronx before working some of Brooklyn’s toughest neighborhoods, including Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick.
“There’s a reason Brooklyn North Narcotics are called the ‘Body Snatchers,’ ” said civil rights lawyer Paul Hale, whose client recently won a $75,000 settlement, saying he was twice wrongfully arrested by Sbarra’s team. “They don’t care if you’re innocent or guilty. They just want to make arrests at any cost.”
In Sbarra’s case, court documents revealed an assortment of jaw-dropping charges. Among the allegations:
- He and a second cop, with black tape over their badge numbers, called a young Brooklyn barbershop owner a “n-----” during a traffic stop in Bushwick. Settlement: $19,500, including $1,000 Sbarra had to pay out of his own pocket after the city, in a rare move, refused to represent him. Sbarra was found guilty of departmental charges related to the incident, but “Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly dismissed all charges,” Sbarra said in a 2012 deposition.
His officers brutally beat a Brooklyn man, yanking out a handful of dreadlocks and bashing his head into a window at the 81st Precinct stationhouse, as the man’s 11-year-old son watched in horror. The little boy was recovering from leukemia. Settlement: $50,000.
-He insisted Hale’s client, who already lost a tooth in an arrest a year earlier, swallowed drugs on a Bushwick street. The Brooklyn man was left handcuffed to a bed at Woodhull Hospital for seven hours before being released because no drugs were found. Sbarra never followed up on the case with the hospital, even though he is required to by law. Settlement: $75,000.
“He’s like a ticking time bomb,” said city employee Tanya Reeves, who was arrested then released without charges in 2010 after Sbarra ordered his officers to break down her Bed-Stuy apartment door with a battering ram.
Sbarra declined comment when approached by The News at his home last week.
Despite the piles of allegations and the pricey payouts, the $102,000-a-year lieutenant said in a 2012 deposition he was never disciplined for his then-12 lawsuits, and was promoted four months after he was docked 20 vacation days due to an Internal Affairs investigation.
An NYPD spokesman declined to answer detailed questions about several topics: whether there were concerns about the dozens of suits against Sbarra and his officers; why the Police Department doesn’t systematically track and analyze lawsuits involving claims of excessive force; and why Sbarra and his cops were not disciplined after repeated claims of misconduct.
The NYPD’s top spokesman, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, referred questions regarding lawsuits to the city Law Department, which issued a statement.
“Being named in a lawsuit or settlement is not an accurate barometer for evaluating an officer’s conduct,” the statement said. “For example, an officer who works in high-impact roles, such as narcotics or emergency services, is more likely to be sued in his or her line of duty than an officer in a less confrontational role.
“Therefore, these officers should not be punished for being named in a meritless lawsuit that was initiated because of their particular assignments.”
The Law Department issued a followup statement late Friday saying the NYPD does track lawsuits, but refused to elaborate.
All NYPD settlements come without any admission of wrongdoing by the officers, the department or the city.
Sbarra joined the NYPD in 1997, starting in the crime-plagued 40th Precinct, which includes the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx. He was promoted to sergeant six years later and transferred to Brooklyn North Narcotics.
Between 2006 and 2011, nearly five dozen suits were filed against Sbarra and 15 of the officers attached to his team. They were accused of everything from racial profiling to warrantless searches to busting law-abiding citizens on phony charges.
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