Cop who arrested Brooklyn mailman on the job stripped of badge

A police lieutenant who oversaw the roundly condemned arrest of mail carrier Glenn Grays in March has been stripped of his badge and gun. He has not been fired but has been consigned to desk duty, reported Gothamist.

Lt. Luis Machado and three plainclothes police officers arrested Grays on March 17 for the alleged offense of swearing at them when they almost hit his mail truck with their vehicle.

Yelling at a cop is not a crime.

The arrest occurred while Grays was working his mail route. He was cuffed and led away while in the act of delivering a parcel, with his mail truck allegedly left unsecured. Video of the incident that showed the officers arresting Grays and threatening him with injury went viral, leading to widespread denunciation of the police’s actions and leading Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams to condemn the racist subtext of the encounter.

“This could have been another Eric Garner situation if Glenn hadn’t responded as calmly as he did,” Adams said. “And, if they would do that to Glenn in his uniform, they would do that to any person of color in that neighborhood.”

Grays himself has said that, while he thinks the officers should be disciplined, he doesn’t want them to be fired: “I don’t want them to be jobless because they might have family, kids they need to support.”

According to DNA Info, Grays credited the fact that the incident was being filmed with stopping it from escalating further and also said, “It’s sad. I thought when I put on a uniform that I’d be treated a little different, but there’s no difference. I’m just another brother with a uniform.”

It appears that, as the officer in charge, Machado will receive the harshest punishment of the group. It’s unclear whether his relegation to “desk duties” is permanent or what punishment, if any, the other officers involved in the incident will face.

However, as one sharp-eyed Gothamist commenter pointed out, Machado is one handsomely compensated individual, earning a staggering $167,249 in 2015, if figures can be believed. That will take the sting out of any demotion. Let’s hope he didn’t earn that money harassing innocent civilians and counting it as overtime.