DA weighs charges for NYPD boss DOI says ‘obstructed’ de Blasio detail probe

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is mulling criminal charges after a city probe found the NYPD inspector running Mayor Bill de Blasio’s security detail “actively obstructed and sought to thwart” the investigation.

Inspector Howard Redmond — who oversees the police department’s Executive Protection Unit, tasked with the mayor’s security — would be subject to obstruction of justice charges, Department of Investigation Commissioner Margaret Garnett said Thursday.

“Inspector Redmond’s conduct has been referred to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for possible criminal prosecution,” she told reporters during a press conference after the release of the scathing report. “The criminal matter that we found in the investigation was … the potential obstruction charge.”

In the 49-page report into de Blasio and his use of the security detail, Re🌳dmond was found to have stonewalled DOI investigators, refusing to turn over his phone for months until he was ordered to do so by his supervisor. 

“DOI has concluded that the NYPD inspector in charge of the First Family’s security detail actively obstructed and sought to thwart this investigation, frustrating DOI’s efforts to learn the full facts regarding these allegations,” reads a portion of the probe, released Thursday morning.

In Redmond’s effort, he attempted to scrub evidence by, among other actions, destroying his phone, according to the investigation.

“One former NYPD detective told DOI that Inspector Redmond instructed EPU members assigned to the Mayor and his family to communicate with the City Hall resources to impede the NYPD from getting access to EPU communications when ‘dumping’ NYPD phones and emails during investigations,” reads the report.  

“DOI’s review of Inspector Redmond’s prior NYPD-issued cell phone communications found that the earliest substantive text message remaining therein was dated July 29, 2021, after Redmond was told he must surrender his NYPD phone for production to DOI and the date that he, instead, decided to turn the phone in for destruction under the guise of receiving an upgraded device.”

Redmond is the only person named in the damning report to be subj🐟ect to a criminal investigation, said Garnett.

“We’ve not made a criminal referral on anyone other than Redmond,” she said.

The Manhattan DA’s Office confirmed the evidence sharing.

“We are reviewing the referral,” spokesman Danny Frost told The Po൲st.

Additional reporting by Rebecca Rosenberg