New York police officer accused of trafficking heroin and fentanyl prosecuted for excessive force

The Bronx cop arrested last week for using heroin and fentanyl on the job should have been on the NYPD’s radar long ago.

Grace Baez, 37, was prosecuted in 2016 for excessive force and false arrest in a Jan. 6, 2014, incident on West 125th Street, according to court documents.

The civil rights case was settled in Manhattan federal court for $30,000, according to court filings.

Baez was accused of excessive force again in 2019 – but the plaintiff did not follow through, records show.

The NYPD placed Baez on modified duty in 2020 after she was accused of misconduct.

The ministry has not released details of this incident.

Baez — who once bragged about loving her job — left the NYPD last week after she was arrested for allegedly selling large quantities of high-grade narcotics, federal officials said.

“It was already modified. They should have understood that. It’s not like she’s selling popcorn,” a Manhattan cop fumed. “We are talking about a drug dealer.

“They should have looked at her more closely. . . . The most dangerous thing is that she sold fentanyl, which kills people. It’s like, who was supervising her?

In the 2014 incident that sparked the trial, a team of police officers, including Baez, allegedly evacuated the El Puerto seafood restaurant shortly before 4:30 a.m. and fractured the foot of Shawn Young, 27, hitting him on the sidewalk outside. the lawsuit demanded.

Prosecutors argued that Young and another man were arguing in the restaurant. Young was escorted outside and arrested when he repeatedly tried to go back inside.

He also refused to put his hands behind his back and bend over to get into the police car, prosecutors said.

Cops also claimed Smith spit in Baez’s face and cursed at her, which he denied.

“I feel like every one of them (excessive force/false arrest cases) should trigger some sort of internal review,” said David Zelman, Young’s attorney, who noted that cops don’t didn’t have body cameras in 2014.

The ex-cop, currently under house arrest with an electronic monitoring device, could not be reached for comment.

No one opened the door to his two-story home in the Pelham Gardens neighborhood, where a white Jeep Grand Cherokee was parked in the driveway.

The arrest shocked one of his neighbors, who was unaware that Baez had resigned over the controversy: “Oh shit! This is bullshit, especially what happened to the little kids.

He was referring to the death of a toddler from fentanyl exposure at a Bronx daycare last month.

“It’s a shame for the profession. That’s what (the department) should be working on, not white socks,” said a veteran police officer, explaining that officers get in trouble if they wear the wrong color socks with their uniform.

Baez was charged along with Cesar Martinez of Yonkers, her boyfriend, with conspiracy to distribute narcotics and distribution of narcotics, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said.

Baez and Martinez, 42, allegedly tried to sell the drugs to a federal informant between Oct. 9 and Oct. 29, officials said.

Additional reporting by Deirdre Bardolf