Dana Rachlin, a prominent police reform advocate, once collaborated so closely with local precincts in North Brooklyn that she often worked out of the office of NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey — who oversaw the patrol area at the time. 

The nonprofit she founded, NYC Together, was deeply involved in community-based policing efforts that were a priority under former Mayor Bill de Blasio and brought reformers into partnership with police leadership. Rachlin worked intimately with NYPD officers to seek alternatives to incarceration for the mostly Black and brown youth caught up in the criminal justice system. 

A trust grew — so much so that when Rachlin said she was raped in October 2017, one of the first people she called was Maddrey, who urged her to file a police report, despite her reservations at the time, she told THE CITY.

Now Rachlin, 38, alleges in a federal lawsuit that police officials weaponized confidential details of that sexual assault to retaliate against her for her vocal criticism of violent policing — and particularly of a controversial deputy inspector in charge of Brownsville’s 73rd Precinct. 

In the lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of New York on Monday, Rachlin alleges that in mid-2020 NYPD officials cut off her access to the North Brooklyn precincts her nonprofit serves and told precinct leaders not to work with her. 

Soon afterward, the lawsuit claims, confidential information about her alleged sexual assault was circulated to community advocates, mixed in with misinformation about the investigation and the notion that she fabricated the attack and falsely accused a Black man of rape. 

Those same claims later surfaced in two anonymous letters sent to police officials, politicians and others, the lawsuit alleges.

One of the letters referred to Rachlin as a “wolf in Sheep’s clothing,” who deployed her “feminine charm to gain the trust of unsuspecting officers.” The other included specifics of her sexual assault, alongside inaccuracies about why her case was closed. 

“Ms. Rachlin was willing to send another innocent African American man to jail for her own gain. What a disgrace!” the letter reads. 

It’s not clear from the lawsuit who wrote or circulated the letters, which were reviewed by THE CITY, though both contained details about her reported sexual assault that just a few people within the NYPD should have had access to. 

“The campaign waged against me by powerful members of the NYPD was intended to humiliate and intimidate me. But this is their shame, not mine,” Rachlin told THE CITY.  

“Though I am fearful of further retribution and slander, I draw strength from knowing this isn’t just about me. It’s about every survivor of sexual assault who has suffered further at the hands of the NYPD’s misconduct. It’s about a department that reacts to even the slightest criticism with ruthless tactics designed to instill fear and cause compliance.” 

The filing names as defendants NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry, Community Coordinator Brian Adams, and the former 73rd precinct commanding officer, Craig Edelman, who allegedly participated in the defamation against Rachlin. The complaint names those four alongside Maddrey for First Amendment retaliation against Rachlin.

The complaint also cites Maddrey and other supervisors who “knew of the abusive conduct of his subordinates” for failing to intervene, report or mitigate it, and it names Mayor Eric Adams and the three most recent police commissioners as defendants for their roles in overseeing the NYPD. It seeks unspecified damages for the harm caused to her reputation and the resulting loss of business.

Maddrey, Chell, Brian Adams and Edelman didn’t return requests for comment right away. Daughtry referred questions to the NYPD press office. 

A spokesperson for the NYPD said they are aware of the lawsuit and are reviewing it.

“While we believe it has no merit, we will not comment further on pending litigation,” the spokesperson said. 

Kayla Mamelak, a spokesperson for Mayor Adams, said the city will review the suit. 

“We hold everyone at the NYPD to the highest standards and their hard work delivering for New Yorkers speaks for itself,” Mamelak said.

The allegations outlined in the lawsuit depict a behind-the-scenes effort taken by NYPD officials to discredit a vocal department critic and come as NYPD leadership has been increasingly emboldened, under Mayor Adams, a former NYPD captain, to confront department critics publically. 

The lawsuit also highlights the growing rift between current police leadership and criminal justice reformers, who aim to deploy less traditional crime fighting tactics like violence interrupters that had gained traction under de Blasio.

Rachlin founded the nonprofit NYC Together in 2015, which began as a mentorship program between police officers and youth and grew to include other collaborative events and programs. The de Blasio administration took early notice of it, with then Chief of Patrol Terence Monahan writing in an email in 2016 that “the mayor thinks it is fantastic.”

In 2020, Rachlin co-founded a subsidiary group, We Build The Block, along with the actor Michael K. Williams — best known for his role as Omar in the hit HBO series “The Wire” — which helped pilot police-free streets where local “violence interrupters” would respond to low-level 911 calls before police got involved. 

It was during these early years that Rachlin became a close friend and confidant of Maddrey, working at a table inside his office at a time when Maddrey oversaw Brooklyn North’s ten precincts from Greenpoint to East New York, Rachlin told THE CITY.

Maddrey, along with Daughtry and other police personnel, attended the annual gala for Rachlin’s NYC Together at a hotel in Williamsburg on the October 2017 evening that ended with her sexual assault upstairs, the lawsuit says.

The next day, in her hospital recovery room, Rachlin shared concerns with Maddrey about filing a police report, according to the lawsuit.  

“Ms. Rachlin was initially hesitant to avail herself of the criminal legal system, believing that its ability to achieve justice for victims was limited and being generally opposed to the punitive and non-rehabilitative nature of incarceration,” the lawsuit says. 

But Maddrey assured Rachlin that her information would be kept confidential and that her name would be excluded from the police report, the lawsuit alleges. Just a handful of NYPD personnel knew about her report, including Maddrey, Daughtry, and two Special Victims Unit detectives, according to the court papers.

Rachlin underwent a rape kit, and conducted a recorded call with her alleged assailant at the behest of detectives, according to SVU investigative logs shared with THE CITY. But ultimately, within a week of filing the report, Rachlin told the special victims unit detectives that she no longer wished to pursue the case, and it was formally closed by the NYPD on December 15, according to the logs. 

Rachlin told SVU investigators she wanted to drop the case after Brooklyn prosecutors warned her the process would be lengthy and emotionally draining, the lawsuit says.

As the COVID-19 pandemic brought new stresses on high-poverty communities early in 2020, Rachlin began to share her concerns with top NYPD officials about Edelman, the commanding officer of the 73rd Precinct in Brownsville, over what she and others viewed as his team’s heavy-handed crackdowns under the guise of social distancing enforcement. 

In one incident on May 15, 2020, a loud, outdoor drinking gathering ended with police under Edelman’s leadership pepper-spraying widely despite the presence of toddlers, and another two weeks later where Edelman allowed his driver, NYPD officer Vincent D’Andraia, to rough up a young Black man for smoking a joint, according to elected officials who witnessed the incident.

Days later, Edelman’s tactics emerged into the national spotlight during the Black Lives Matter protests after he was identified as the supervisor on scene who failed to intervene as D’Andraia violently shoved a 21-year-old protester, Dounya Zayer, head first into the ground. 

Calls mounted from elected officials for disciplinary actions to be taken against D’Andraia and Edelman. Then, on June 4, the host of the Hot 97 radio show Ebro in the Morning confronted Police Commissioner Dermot Shea about Edelman in a live interview. 

Within days, the NYPD transferred Edelman out of the Brownsville precinct he commanded. Rachlin, who was known to be close with Ebro, was immediately tied to the decision, according to Rachlin’s lawsuit. 

“There is going to be a lot of blow back from this,” Maddrey wrote to Rachlin, text messages viewed by THE CITY show. “The minute Ebro asked about Edelman, everyone spoke your name. That wasn’t a good move.”

Around the same time, the NYPD allegedly barred Rachlin from entering North Brooklyn precincts. Chell — who at the time served as a deputy chief — asked an underling to relay a message to Rachlin, the court filing alleges, that Rachlin should know “we can humiliate her at any time.”

With her youth work upended by the loss of access to the NYPD, Rachlin tried to continue onward with her mission, she claims.

She was helping to guide The New Yorker on an in-depth piece about Edelman and policing in Brownsville when she was asked for a meeting by the Rev. Kevin McCall, a “social justice preacher,” in April 2021, the lawsuit says.

While Rachlin assumed the meeting was related to her ongoing advocacy efforts, McCall instead accused her of making a false allegation of rape years earlier, the lawsuit alleges. 

McCall told Rachlin he was provided information by Brian Adams and Chell, the lawsuit claims, and told Rachlin he was “on to her” and would assure that no community groups work with her. 

Reached over the phone, McCall said he knew Rachlin, but couldn’t recall the specific conversation referenced in the lawsuit. “I don’t hold the police department’s water, I would never do that,” he told THE CITY. “I wouldn’t take no orders from John Chell.” 

Later that day, Rachlin called around to associates and learned that several others had been told that she falsely reported a rape by a Black man years earlier, the lawsuit claims. 

Given the small circle of NYPD members who knew about her reported sexual assault, Rachlin said she called Maddrey that same day to confront him.

Maddrey said he knew nothing about it, and assured her, “I don’t believe you falsely accused anyone,” according to a recording of the phone call reviewed by THE CITY.

“I 100% encouraged you to do it,” Maddrey said on the call of the rape report. 

He also told her he would ask his NYPD associates, including Chell — whose name Rachlin brought up during the call — about what was happening.

“I’m gonna put an end to whatever is going on. If there’s anything coming from these guys, I’m gonna put an end to it,” Maddrey said on the recording.

Four days later, Maddrey sent a text message to Rachlin reviewed by THE CITY.

“I spoke to everyone on my side,” he wrote on April 12, 2021. “There will be no further issues.” 

In January 2022, de Blasio was replaced by Mayor Eric Adams, who promised to prioritize the restoration of public safety. This included the reconstitution of anti-crime units that had been disbanded under de Blasio after they were identified as the target of many complaints from communities that felt over-policed.

The campaign against Rachlin continued that year, the lawsuit alleges, in the aftermath of another news report about her work. On Feb. 4, 2022, The New York Times published a piece on a “healing circle,” in which a group of teens who were connected to a murder in Sheepshead Bay’s 61rd Precinct were offered a stipend to attend group therapy sessions in an effort to stave off retaliatory violence. 

Two weeks after the article’s publication, a letter addressed to then Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell was circulated and stuffed into the lockers of the 61st Precinct headed by Captain Derby St. Fort, a reform-minded ally of Rachlin, who had worked under Edelman in the 73rd Precinct, the lawsuit alleges. 

It contained specifics about the location and circumstances of her alleged sexual assault, and details about the investigation, including references to video evidence and the phone call to the alleged perpetrator  — but the letter asserted she had made a false report and incorrectly stated the reason why the case was closed.

A month later in April, the second letter was mailed out to Brooklyn North Assistant Chief Scott Henderson, who referred the letter to the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau in April 2022. That letter was written in the form of a police memo, according to the lawsuit, and titled, “Beware of the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: The Racist Branding of Police Officers as Racist.” 

Like the letter sent the month earlier, the memo included details of her alleged sexual assault – such as the state where the alleged perpetrator came from – alongside the assertion that she’d made it up.

“Rachlin was the one making unsolicited advances onto the innocent man, including stalking, groping and pushing herself onto the man,” the memo reads. 

The letters are both unsigned, and the lawsuit doesn’t identify who wrote them. But it notes that each letter had multiple details that were known only to a few NYPD personnel, including the name of the detective who investigated Rachlin’s sexual assault complaint, and details of the police investigation, like the recorded call with her alleged assailant. 

“It is clear from the already-available evidence and substance of statements by known parties that Ms. Rachlin’s privacy was violated by the Department, and that this was done for the purpose of lending false credibility to the outrageous claims spread in retaliation against her,” said MK Kaishian, Rachlin’s attorney.

Rachlin said while she’s worried about further retaliation for speaking out, she’s tired of hiding. 

“Courage is being honest about what has been happening for four years, despite the risks that come with calling out those who act with impunity,” she said.