Mayor Adams took a shot Thursday at the lawyer representing four retired NYPD chiefs suing him and senior department officials over allegations of cronyism and corruption, claiming her ongoing criticism of him raises questions about the accusations.
Adams, who declined to address the substance of the ex-chiefs’ damning allegations, called the attorney, Sarena Townsend, “a former DOC employee that has basically been stalking me.”
Adams’ first Correction Commissioner Louis Molina fired Townsend in 2022 after she refused his demand to dump some 2,000 pending disciplinary cases filed against officers, as the Daily News previously reported. The firing was widely criticized.
Townsend then went into private law practice and has been an outspoken critic of Adams’ mayoralty, especially his policies on the beleaguered city jails, and handled several high-profile cases as a plaintiff lawyer.
Townsend responded to Adams’ comments saying the mayor should consider his words more carefully.
“It’s defamatory to suggest I’m committing a crime,” Townsend told The News. “He’s the mayor, I am an attorney filing a lawsuit. When clients come to me with a meritorious lawsuit, I’m going to represent them. I think he needs to consult his attorney about what he is and is not allowed to say about a regular civilian.”
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Barry Williams for New York Daily News Sarena Townsend, Esq., Former Department of Correction Deputy Commissioner Investigation and Trials Division in Queens in 2019.
During her tenure with the city, Townsend was the deputy commissioner of trials and investigations overseeing the Correction Department’s disciplinary system. She was also tapped as a liaison with the federal monitor tracking violence and use of force in the jails.
Townsend, an ex-assistant district attorney in the Brooklyn DA’s office, added: “I was once told when you don’t have a viable defense to a case, that’s when you have to rely on personal attacks.”
“The lawsuits are all meritorious and have nothing to do with me.”
The four ex-chiefs allege Adams allowed ex-Police Commissioner Edward Caban, ex-Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey and other close advisers to manipulate promotions and assignments for their cronies in violation of longstanding rules. In an especially damning claim, one of the ex-chiefs allege Caban was “selling” NYPD promotions to pals for as much as $15,000, an accusation apparently under federal investigation.
The four ex-chiefs say they were forced out of the police department by Adams and the others when they complained.
“I think if you look at some of [Townsend’s] comments that she made online you really get an indicator of exactly what this is about,” Adams said when asked about the lawsuits after an unrelated press conference in Brooklyn Thursday.
Adams spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak earlier in the week responded to the lawsuits by saying “the Adams administration holds all city employees — including leadership at the NYPD — to the highest standards … We will review the lawsuits.”
Asked about Townsend’s accusation the mayor’s remarks were defamatory, Mamelak noted “stalk” means to “harass or persecute (someone) with unwanted and obsessive attention.”
Mamelak also expanded on her boss’ comments about Townsend.
“One thing is abundantly clear: these are deceptive, self-serving claims filed by a disgruntled former employee with a personal vendetta who was terminated from her city role and has spent the past three years waging a social media campaign against Mayor Adams and this administration,” she said.
