An NYPD lieutenant who spent much of his career in the department’s Strategic Response Group claims in a new lawsuit that coveted overtime assignments in one of his units were distributed based on race. He also alleges that his supervisor pushed officers in the unit to make arrests in order to “beat” the number of arrests made in the year prior.
The lawsuit was filed by Lt. Keith Hockaday, who is Black, earlier this week in Manhattan State Supreme Court and alleges racial discrimination, retaliation and other violations by NYPD members.
Hockaday worked in a supervisory role at a Strategic Response Group unit in Brooklyn from April 2022 through February 2025, according to the suit. Court documents show he was then reassigned to another Strategic Response Group unit in the Bronx before he was administratively transferred to the 70th Precinct in May of this year. The lawsuit names the city and an NYPD captain who supervised Hockaday as defendants. Hockaday is seeking damages to be determined at trial, according to the lawsuit…