Current Events > Nassau County (Long Island) PD hired 17 ex-NYPD accused of misconduct in 5 years

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The Nassau County Police Department reportedly hired 17 former New York Police Department (NYPD) officers who were accused of misconduct over a 5-year period, sparking outrage among critics calling for police reform.

The 17 officers were the subject of substantiated New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board complaints or named as defendants in federal civil rights lawsuits, according to an investigative report jointly published last month by The Intercept and New York Focus. The only one that the report named was Matthew Castellano, an ex-NYPD cop who joined the city police force in 2011.

In 2015, Castellano was one of two officers to stop Sheena Stewart, a Black social worker who was seven months pregnant, on her commute to work. Castellano pulled her from the drivers seat, threw her to the ground, and called her a fat bastard, according to a lawsuit filed by Stewart, who sued the officers and the department for abusive policing and racial discrimination, the outlets reported. Stewart was suspended from her job at a residential rehabilitation center after being charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and obstructing governmental administration; the charges against her were later dropped.

Castellano reportedly resigned later that year and the case was settled for $75,000 before the Nassau County Police Department hired him at a higher salary.

It is disturbing but unsurprising that the Nassau County Police Department hired a former NYPD officer accused of assaulting a pregnant Black woman, and then gave him a pay raise, said Nia Adams, a community organizer with the Long Island Progressive Coalition. Not only should Matthew Castellano be fired immediately, the county should also release information regarding the other 16 NYPD officers it hired who have been accused of misconduct, as well as all the disciplinary records related to repeal of section 50-a of New York Civil Rights Law. If Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder knew about Castellanos past and still kept him on the departments payroll, it would only further demonstrate that Ryder is unfit to lead the police department and should resign.