Detective Accused Of Stealing Nearly $3,000 From Brooklyn Bodega Suspended Without Pay
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A NYPD narcotics detective accused of stealing nearly $3,000 from a Brooklyn deli during a raid remains suspended without pay.
Det. Ian Cyrus has been with the NYPD for the last 12 years, working in Brooklyn with the narcotics squad, CBS2's Janelle Burrell reported.
However, the deli owner said his surveillance footage proves Cyrus is a crooked cop and that it shows the detective swiping the cash.
In the video, Cryus is seen crouched on the ground taking a fistful of cash from a box behind the register of the deli. Cyrus is even seen turning away from the other plainclothes officer before stuffing the money in his pocket.
Detectives raided the deli on Marcus Garvey Boulevard in Bedford-Stuyvesant last Friday as part of a crackdown on untaxed cigarettes.
Even with the alleged theft caught on camera, there's been no arrest.
"That's absolutely ridiculous," Bedford-Stuyvesant resident Shaneka Dowers told Burrell. "You look exactly at the camera and you know what you're doing. You don't get to just walk into someone's store and take their cash."
So why hasn't Cyrus been charged?
"In this case and in some cases, prosecutors, instead of going through that whole process, just put the case into the grand jury and they bypass this first step," John Walsh explained. Walsh is a retired NYPD inspector and criminal court judge.
By not arraigning Cyrus, it gives prosecutors more time to build their case against him, Walsh explained.
"If bail is set, there's a very short time period within which the prosecutor can put it into the grand jury - something in the neighborhood of about six days. So by obviating all of that, just by putting before a grand jury, would probably be more efficient."
The deli owner, Ali Abdullah, first thought it was one of his employees who took the cash until he saw the surveillance footage. Adbullah said the cash was the deli's rent money he had been saving all month.
"That's when I called 911, I was thinking it was a robbery," Abdullah said.
Abdullah said he hopes his surveillance video results in charges.
"He's a cop, but I don't know how he's going to get away with it," Abdullah said.
"It ain't nothing new," said Bed-Stuy resident Luther Mack. "It's just that he got caught."
"They still gotta obey the law," resident James Simms said.
Cyrus's supervisor has been placed on modified duty, Burrell reported.