A veteran Brooklyn detective is suing the city Civilian Complaint Review Board for defamation and slander, claiming that the watchdog agency badmouthed him even after he was cleared of wrongdoing.
Det. Salvatore Rizzo said in a complaint filed in Manhattan Supreme Court last week that the CCRB, its chair and lead prosecutor falsely implied racial bias was at play when he pulled a gun on a black teenager in 2020 — even though Rizzo was found not guilty at a department trial.
“You lie, you defame, you should pay,” NYPD Detectives Endowment Association President Paul DiGiacomo said Tuesday of Rizzo’s complaint.
“It’s about time CCRB lawyers and staff who lie pay the price,” he said. “We are dead serious about this.
“Though CCRB personnel knew the facts of the case, and knew that the detective acted reasonably and lawfully based upon his training and NYPD regulations, the decision was consciously made to destroy a career and to maliciously accuse our Detective of being racist,” DiGiacomo added.