One of the two cops who gunned down the madman shooter at the Empire State Building yesterday has a major ax to grind with the city — which he has targeted in a federal lawsuit for retaliation after exposing a system of quotas for arrests, summonses and stops.
Bronx cop Craig Matthews, 39 — a 14-year veteran who was on anti-terror patrol yesterday — filed the suit against the NYPD in February, claiming his First Amendment rights were violated when, after exposing the quota system, his superiors subjected him to harassment and retaliation.
In the suit, Matthews said the system — which requires a minimum number of arrests from cops — “has pitted police officers against each other, straining professional relationships and diverting resources away from law-enforcement activities.”
But a Manhattan federal judge in April shot down Matthews’ suit, ruling the cop’s speech was not protected by the First Amendment because he discussed job-related issues as a public employee and not a private citizen, records show.
Matthews’ lawyer, Christopher Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union, yesterday said the case is on appeal and scheduled for argument in October.
Yesterday, Matthews and fellow Officer Robert Sinishtaj, 33, were stationed outside the Empire State Building in one of the NYPD’s counterterrorism units when Jeffrey Johnson, 58, gunned down a former co-worker.
PHOTOS: EMPIRE STATE BUILDING SHOOTING
They opened fire, and the shooter was killed and nine pedestrians were struck in the barrage, officials said.
“The guy had just killed somebody. They had no choice but to shoot,” a police source said.
“They wanted to make sure no kids were hit and were concerned about the other innocent people who were hit,” the source added of the aftermath of the gunfight.
Matthews and Sinishtaj — an NYPD officer for at least 15 years — have been partners for a couple of years, a police source said.
As part of the Critical Response Vehicle, an anti-terrorism unit, they patrol sensitive areas around the city.
“In the event something happens, like a terrorist attack, you will have all these patrol cars in a position to respond downtown or in Midtown,” the source added. “Otherwise, they are used as an omnipresence, a show of force, a deterrent.”
Matthews lives in upstate Brewster with his wife and two sons, one in elementary and another in middle school.
Sinishtaj lives in the Bronx.