8
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, MARCH 1, 2020
SEA GATE POLICE
police force, ex-officers said.
In one case, Fortunato hired
a personal friend in 2012, who
almost immediately ensnared
the department in a lawsuit
after calling two other officers
racial slurs, the lawsuit
claims.
The 2017 complaint alleges
that the new hire, Jeffrey Schneider,
called a black sergeant
a “militant n—-r sergeant” after
learning he would have
to report to him, and said he
didn’t want to share a patrol
car with a Latino officer, calling
him a “that fat Puerto Rican
s–c.”
Fortunato fired Schneider,
but rehired him in 2015 as a
sergeant and later promoted
him to lieutenant, the complaint
states. Former officers
say that Fortunato finally fired
Schneider in September of 2019
as a result of the lawsuit, but
argue that Fortunato should
leave too because of his role in
the scandal.
“The chief needs to go,” said
one ex-officer, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity for fear
of reprisal. “The chief was covering
up and condoning what
Schneider was doing.”
One former officer said that
he saw bogus parking placards
and police paraphernalia, including
department badges,
made for community leaders
responsible for overseeing Sea
Gate’s finances.
“I personally saw a box full
of identifications and badges
in Chief Fortunato’s office
that were assigned to civilian
friends of Sea Gate and Sea
Gate board members,” said the
officer, who also spoke on the
condition of anonymity.
The department’s use of
parking placards raised eyebrows
in 2013, when two Gothamist
articles reported that a
$300,000 Ferrari and a $116,000
Fisher Karma were parked illegally
in Manhattan using
Sea Gate Police Department
parking placards. The placards
falsely claimed to be issued
by the Patrolmen’s Benevolent
Association, which
does not represent the department,
and an officer for the department
reportedly “chucked
coyly” when asked if any officers
own the flashy cars, one
article claimed. Officers made
about $13 per hour at the time,
sources said.
Meanwhile, residents say
that the department routinely
does not respond to calls and
hands out illegitimate tickets
to whomever they please.
“When you call into 911 and
request a police officer to come
in … what would happen is that
they’d transfer the call to the
Sea Gate Police Department
and sometimes they’d just cancel
the call and say nothing
happened,” said a longtime
homeowner, Vincent. “The association
uses them as bulldogs
who go and harass people
would haven’t paid their dues
— they harass them by giving
them tickets.”
Another former officer said
he believed firing Fortunato
could help the department turn
a new leaf.
“There was this one day
where four, five people quit,”
said Steve Scordato, a former
NYPD officer who worked in
the Sea Gate Police Department
for two years. “Fortunato
should go.”
The Sea Gate Police Department
declined to comment, and
the Sea Gate Association did
not respond to a request for
comment.
Continued from page 1
A Sea Gate police offi cer on duty at the entrance to the gated community in Coney Island Photo by Derrick Watterson
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