A New York City police officer has filed a complaint against a sergeant who allegedly pulled her ponytail in their Flushing precinct in Queens.
A dispute over the details of the incident had caused a clash between two police unions. The Sergeant’s Benevolent Association is standing by the supervisor, saying the officer filed a “false report” and the claim might be retaliatory for her facing discipline for reportedly not properly requesting time off. The Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York says the sergeant “abused” the officer and should be held accountable.
Christine Meisner, 29, filed a complaint against Sgt. Nakia Middleton-House, a 17-year veteran of the force, alleging she pulled her ponytail while on the job at the 109th Precinct station house in Queens, the New York Post reports.
The incident, which was captured on video, happened on Nov. 1, but was reported two months later.
The incident happened when the sergeant showed the officer how she should wear her ponytail while in uniform and on patrol. Meisner claims Middleton-House yanked her hair.
“You put your hair in a bun, or a perp might do this,” Middleton-House, 48, is accused of saying before allegedly pulling the officer’s hair and causing her to stumble.
Meisner says she had “substantial” pain in her neck, which aggravated a previous neck injury and required medical attention. The officer claims the supervisor knew about this neck injury and still yanked her hair.
Vincent Vallelong, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, pointed out that the allegations were not filed until two months after the incident happened, and no one has been charged.
Vallenlong alleges he saw a video and it “does not show assault.” There was no actual yanking of the hair, as the officer claims, according to the union president.
“The officer did not stumble, and the sergeant did not jerk her back,” he said.
He said Meisner filed a “false report” against Middleton-House because she hadn’t gone through the proper channels to get approval for time off. This incident would have happened shortly after the sergeant was assigned to the precinct on Sept. 29.
“We promote and train people to be supervisors, and that is exactly what the sergeant did — supervise!” the union leader said. “If we would like to send the wrong message and discipline our sergeant for doing her job then tell me what message I should send to all my members across the department!”
Before coming to Flushing, the sergeant worked at the 104th and 70th precincts. The Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York is demanding that Middleton-House be disciplined for her actions.
“This isn’t “supervision” — it’s abuse. It was unacceptable for this sergeant to put her hands on this police officer, period,” the union said in a tweet. “She needs to take responsibility for her actions, and her fellow “supervisors” need to stop making excuses for this behavior.”
Middleton-House has been disciplined since she was promoted to the rank in 2012. Public police employment records show on Friday, Nov. 30, 2018, Middleton-House was reprimanded by her then-supervisor for using a department database for inquiries not connected to her duties as an officer and was penalized with the loss of 10 vacation days.
