Update: The head of the Sergeants Benevolent Association has stepped down. Less than 24 hours after the FBI raided Ed Mullins' Long Island home and the Manhattan offices of the NYPD's second-largest union on Tuesday, part of a still-murky probe, the union's executive board announced that Mullins agreed to step down as its president. "The nature and scope of this criminal investigation has yet to be determined," noted a statement from the board, per CNN. "However, it is clear that President Mullins is apparently the target of the federal investigation." The board says it doesn't appear that any other SBA member is either involved or targeted, and that it asked for Mullins' resignation due to the "severity of this matter and the uncertainty of its outcome." CBS News notes no charges have been filed. Our original story from Tuesday, October 5, 2021, follows:
Federal agents on Tuesday raided the offices of a New York City police union, the Sergeants Benevolent Association, and the Long Island home of its bombastic leader, who has clashed repeatedly with city officials over his incendiary tweets and hard-line tactics. An FBI spokesperson said agents were "carrying out a law enforcement action in connection with an ongoing investigation." The spokesperson said he could not give details of the investigation, the AP reports. Along with the union's Manhattan headquarters, agents searched union President Ed Mullins' home in Port Washington, on Long Island. There was no immediate comment from Mullins or the union.
Mullins, who's also a police sergeant, is in the middle of department disciplinary proceedings for tweeting NYPD paperwork last year pertaining to the arrest of Mayor Bill de Blasio's daughter during protests over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd. And Mullins is suing his department, claiming officials were trying to muzzle him by grilling him and recommending disciplinary action over his online missives. His department trial for the alleged paperwork breach began last month but was postponed indefinitely after one of his lawyers suffered a medical emergency.
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Mullins' lawyer denies he violated department guidelines, arguing paperwork with Chiara de Blasio’s personal identifying information was already online. Asked about the raid Tuesday, de Blasio told reporters he didn’t have enough information to comment. "I think he's been a divisive voice," de Blasio said of Mullins. Along with Mullins' appearances on cable networks like Fox News and Newsmax—including one in which he was pictured with a QAnon mug—perhaps the union's most powerful megaphone is its 45,000-follower Twitter account, which Mullins runs. Last year, Mullins came under fire for tweets calling the city’s former health commissioner a "b----" and US Rep. Ritchie Torres a "first-class whore." (More New York City Police Department stories.)
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