Ethics and Official Misconduct

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      2 Players Sue N.Y. Philharmonic, Saying They Were Wrongfully Suspended

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      Matthew Muckey and Liang Wang said they were sidelined without cause by the New York Philharmonic after a recent magazine article detailed allegations of misconduct against them.Two New York Philharmonic players sued the orchestra on Wednesday, saying they had been wrongfully suspended after a recent magazine article revived allegations of misconduct against them.The players, Matthew Muckey and Liang Wang, filed separate lawsuits in Federal District Court in Manhattan. The men claimed that the Philharmonic had removed them without cause and in violation of an arbitrator’s ruling, which had ordered the orchestra to reinstate them in 2020 after an earlier attempt to fire them.The players also sued their union, Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, accusing the organization of failing to provide them fair representation.The Philharmonic, which recently said it would commission an outside investigation into the orchestra’s culture in response to the uproar over the article, said that it could not comment on active litigation. Local 802 declined to comment.The lawsuits came after a report last month in New York magazine detailed accusations of misconduct made in 2010 against Mr. Muckey, the associate principal trumpet, and Mr. Wang, the principal oboist. After the story’s publication the Philharmonic moved quickly to remove Mr. Muckey and Mr. Wang from rehearsals and performances and suspend the players with pay for an indefinite period.In the article Cara Kizer, a former Philharmonic horn player, came forward for the first time to publicly discuss an encounter that she said occurred while she was on tour with the Philharmonic in Vail, Colo., in 2010. She told the Vail Police Department at the time that she had been sexually assaulted after spending the evening with the two players and was given a drink she came to believe was drugged, according to police records. No charges were filed against the men, and both have denied wrongdoing.In 2018 the Philharmonic, under new leadership, commissioned an investigation and moved to dismiss Mr. Muckey and Mr. Wang. But the players’ union challenged their dismissals, and an independent arbitrator forced the orchestra to reinstate them in 2020.Mr. Muckey’s lawsuit accused the Philharmonic of backtracking on that agreement. The suit said that the orchestra had “violated an indisputably final and binding award which has determined that Mr. Muckey could not be removed based upon such allegations and specifically ordered his reinstatement with back pay and seniority.”Mr. Wang accused the Philharmonic of suspending him “without cause or explanation, and in clear violation of the terms of his employment, which expressly require that he be given opportunities to perform and excel as a musician.” His suit claims that a lawyer for the Philharmonic said in 2019 that the ensemble had not accused Mr. Wang of misconduct related to the incident in Colorado.Both men claimed that Local 802, which fought for their reinstatement in 2018, had failed to respond to their requests for assistance in contesting their new suspensions.The union has struck a different tone on the case since the publication of the article. Sara Cutler, Local 802’s new president and executive director, said last month that the decision to keep Mr. Wang and Mr. Muckey offstage “are good first steps, but they can’t be the last.” She also said that she was “horrified” by the accusations, “as a woman, a musician and a new union president.”Mr. Wang’s suit accused Ms. Cutler of making “duplicitous and injurious statements.” Mr. Muckey’s suit said that Local 802 had “failed and refused to perform its duty of fair representation.”Mr. Muckey and Mr. Wang, who are seeking an unspecified amount in damages, said that the Philharmonic’s decision to suspend them had harmed their careers.Mr. Muckey lost engagements with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and other ensembles. Mr. Wang was placed on leave from the Manhattan School of Music, where he teaches, and he lost work with the Taipei Music Academy and Festival and other groups. More

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      Jury Deadlocks on Murder Count Against Ex-Deputy in Killing of Colorado Man

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      A jury convicted the former deputy of reckless endangerment in the fatal shooting of a man who called 911 for help, but said it was unable to reach a verdict on charges of murder and official misconduct.A former sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot a 22-year-old man who had called 911 for help in June 2022 was found guilty on Friday of reckless endangerment, though a Colorado jury said it was unable to reach a verdict on charges of murder and official misconduct.The judge in the case, which drew scrutiny over how the police handle crisis intervention, scheduled a hearing for Monday afternoon to discuss sentencing on the reckless endangerment charge and the jury’s inability to reach a verdict on the other two counts after three days of deliberations.The former deputy, Andrew Buen, was charged in November 2022 with second-degree murder, official misconduct and reckless endangerment in the fatal shooting of Christian Glass, who called the police for help after his S.U.V. got stuck on an embankment on a mountain road near Silver Plume, Colo., about 45 miles west of Denver.Prosecutors and a lawyer for Mr. Buen did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.“This is small step toward justice,” Siddhartha Rathod, a lawyer for the Glass family, said in a brief interview on Friday. After Mr. Glass called 911 for help on June 10, 2022, about a half-dozen officers, including Mr. Buen, arrived and spent more than an hour trying to persuade him to get out of his S.U.V.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      NYC School Crossing Guard Charged With Trying to Lure What He Thought Was Teen Into Sex

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      Jared Jeridore, who worked near a Queens school, was arrested after complaints about him led the police to have an officer pose as a teenage girl, officials said.A Queens man who worked as a school crossing guard was charged on Wednesday with attempted rape and other crimes after he tried to lure an undercover police officer he believed to be a 14-year-old girl into a sexual act, officials said.The charges against the man, Jared Jeridore, included attempted use of a child in a sexual performance, attempted dissemination of indecent material to minors and official misconduct, Melinda Katz, the Queens district attorney, said.“Young people need to be able to trust the adults who are charged with keeping them safe,” Ms. Katz said in a statement. “This defendant is accused of violating that trust with someone he thought was a teenager.”Mr. Jeridore, 24, of Jamaica, made an initial appearance before Judge Julieta Lozano of Queens Criminal Court on Wednesday. She ordered him to return to court in June. A lawyer for Mr. Jeridore did not immediately respond to a request for comment.School crossing guards are part-time Police Department employees who earn $18 an hour. Mr. Jeridore, who worked near a school in Jamaica, was suspended from his job after being arrested on Wednesday and subsequently resigned, a police spokeswoman said. It was unclear how long he had been a crossing guard.The undercover investigation began after underage individuals complained about Mr. Jeridore to the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau, according to a criminal complaint.On the morning of March 28, the complaint says, an undercover officer posing as a 14-year-old girl met Mr. Jeridore at a Jamaica intersection about a block from a secondary school. The complaint does not name the school but lists an address that belongs to York Early College Academy.On April 18, the undercover officer and Mr. Jeridore exchanged Instagram screen names, according to the complaint. That afternoon, the complaint says, they walked together from the same intersection to a nearby bus stop, and Mr. Jeridore interlocked his arm with the officer’s.Around 11:30 that night, Mr. Jeridore and the officer had a video call, the complaint says. Mr. Jeridore, believing the officer was 14 and soon to turn 15, asked her to join him in a sex act, according to the complaint.Over the next several days, Mr. Jeridore sent messages via Instagram to a second officer who was posing as the first one, the complaint says. In the messages, he described the sexual interactions he hoped to have and sent the officer nude photos and sexually explicit video, according to the complaint.On Tuesday, the complaint says, Mr. Jeridore called the first undercover officer several times and asked her to meet him at a local hotel to have sex. Officers arrested Mr. Jeridore when he arrived, according to the complaint. More

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      Mayor Adams Pushes Out Chairwoman of Police Oversight Board

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      Arva Rice was asked to resign after she criticized police handling of a fatal shooting investigation and requested more money and power to investigate misconduct.The interim chairwoman of an independent police oversight panel who had fiercely criticized the Police Department will step down at the request of Mayor Eric Adams, according to three people familiar with the matter.The official, Arva Rice, has chaired the panel, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, since Mr. Adams installed her in February 2022, calling her “a champion for equity and justice.”But she has drawn the anger of police officials for criticizing delays in handing over evidence in the fatal shooting of a Bronx man in his home five years ago — and for requesting a larger budget and more power to investigate complaints against police officers.Ms. Rice was appointed interim chairwoman of the oversight panel in February 2022.Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for NYULThe resignation request was delivered by Mr. Adams’s deputy mayor for public safety, Philip Banks III, who served as the Police Department’s top uniformed officer before resigning under the cloud of a federal corruption investigation in 2014, according to two of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal City Hall personnel matters. Mr. Banks was never charged.Ms. Rice, who also serves as president and chief executive of the New York Urban League, is expected to comply with the request in coming weeks, the people said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      N.Y.P.D. Often Ignores Parking-Permit Abuse, Report Says

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      Failing to ticket illegally parked cars with officially issued permits is “a form of corruption that erodes the public trust,” the Department of Investigation said.The New York Police Department routinely fails to ticket illegally parked cars that have city-issued parking permits, especially near precinct houses, and residents’ complaints about permit abuse rarely result in summonses, according to a report issued on Wednesday.The report, by the city’s Department of Investigation, confirmed what many New Yorkers know firsthand: that tens of thousands of people with city-issued permits, many of them police officers, can typically park anywhere they like with little fear of consequences.In a city where street parking is at a premium and a space in a garage for even a short period can be costly, the failure to crack down on the misuse of city-issued permits, the report said, is “a form of corruption that erodes the public trust in municipal government.”“Parking permit abuse obstructs streets and sidewalks, creating potentially dangerous conditions for pedestrians and motorists alike,” Jocelyn E. Strauber, the Department of Investigation commissioner, said in a statement. “And a lack of enforcement of parking laws with respect to permit-holders sends a message of special treatment.”The report included about 11 recommendations for tackling the problem, including developing a uniform permit across agencies; conducting annual audits of active permits to determine whether they should be revoked; and scrapping “self-enforcement zones” near precincts.The Police Department, the report said, “has no written policies or procedures regarding the self-enforcement zones, and the rate of enforcement of parking laws within those zones was significantly lower than outside of those zones.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Police Raid Peruvian President’s Home, Looking for Rolex Watches

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      Dina Boluarte, who has been seen wearing luxury watches and a $50,000 bracelet, is under investigation for breaking the country’s unlawful enrichment and asset disclosure laws.The police and prosecutors in Peru carried out a surprise raid at the home of President Dina Boluarte and the presidential palace early Saturday as part of an “unlawful enrichment” investigation into news reports that she had been seen wearing Rolex watches since taking office.The raid, which came as Peruvians were celebrating the Holy Week holiday, shocked many people, even in a country that has grown accustomed over the past two decades to politicians investigated for alleged corruption.Before midnight on Good Friday, the police used a battering ram to force their way into Ms. Boluarte’s home in Lima, according to live coverage on Latina Noticias. Prosecutors and the police then searched Ms. Boluarte’s office and residence in the presidential palace.The president had failed to appear this week for a scheduled appointment with prosecutors to show them three Rolex watches she has worn and to explain how she obtained them. She also refused to allow them into her house to execute a search warrant, according to Attorney General Juan Villena, who told lawmakers that her refusal was “a clear indicator of rebellion.”Police officers and prosecutors outside Ms. Boluarte’s house in Lima, Peru, on Saturday.Martin Mejia/Associated PressThe investigation into Ms. Boluarte began on March 18, after the online news program La Encerrona revealed that she had started wearing increasingly expensive watches, including at least one Rolex, since taking office in December 2022. Prosecutors suspect her of violating the country’s laws against unlawful enrichment and failing to declare assets. In Peru, the elected authorities must report to the government any assets worth more than 10,300 soles, or about $2,774, and disclose any gifts received from third parties.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How One Hour Encapsulated the Chaos of Trump’s Coming Trial

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      One court offered Donald J. Trump a financial lifeline. Another set him on a path to prosecution. It was a taste of what America will experience until the November election.At 11 a.m. Monday, a New York appeals court made Donald J. Trump’s day, rescuing him from financial devastation in a civil fraud case.By noon, the New York judge overseeing his criminal case had nearly ruined it, setting Mr. Trump’s trial for next month and all but ensuring he will hold the dubious distinction of becoming the first former American president to be criminally prosecuted.The contrasting outcomes of Mr. Trump’s twin New York legal crises — a triumph in the civil case and a setback in the criminal one — set the former president on a winding path as he seeks to navigate around an array of legal troubles to recapture the White House.Unfolding in rapid succession in his hometown courts, the day’s events captured the disorienting reality of having a candidate who is also a defendant. And they showed that nothing about the months until Election Day will be easy, linear or normal — for Mr. Trump or the nation.Rather than mount a traditional cross-country campaign in the lead-up to the Republican National Convention in July, Mr. Trump, the presumptive nominee, is preparing to work around the criminal trial that will begin April 15 and last for at least six weeks.His schedule will be built around the four days each week that the trial is expected to take place in court, with Wednesdays expected to be an off day. One person familiar with his preliminary plans described weekend events held in strategically important states near New York, like Pennsylvania, or in hospitable areas outside Manhattan.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Psychedelic Evangelist

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      Before he died last year, Roland Griffiths was arguably the world’s most famous psychedelics researcher. Since 2006, his work has suggested that psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms, can induce mystical experiences, and that those experiences, in turn, can help treat anxiety, depression, addiction and the terror of death.Dr. Griffiths and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins University received widespread recognition among scientists and the popular press, helping to pull the psychedelic field from the deep backwater of the 1960s hippie movement. This second wave of research on the hallucinogenic compounds bolstered political campaigns to decriminalize them and spurred biotech investment.Dr. Griffiths was known to friends and colleagues as an analytical thinker and a religious agnostic, and he warned fellow researchers against hype. But he also saw psychedelics as more than mere medicines: Understanding them could be “critical to the survival of the human species,” he said in one talk. Late in life, he admitted to taking psychedelics himself, and said he wanted science to help unlock their transformative power for humanity.Perhaps unsurprisingly, he held a vaunted, even prophetic role among psychonauts, the growing community of psychedelic believers who want to bring the drugs into mainstream society. For years, critics have denounced the outsize financial and philosophical influence of these advocates on the insular research field. And some researchers have quietly questioned whether Dr. Griffiths, in his focus on the mystical realm, made some of the same mistakes that doomed the previous era of psychedelic science.Now, one of his longtime collaborators is airing a more forceful critique. “Dr. Griffiths has run his psychedelic studies more like a ‘new-age’ retreat center, for lack of a better term, than a clinical research laboratory,” reads an ethics complaint filed to Johns Hopkins last fall by Matthew Johnson, who worked with Dr. Griffiths for nearly 20 years but resigned after a charged dispute with colleagues.Roland Griffiths, director of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins, in 2021.Matt Roth for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More