Two high-ranking NYPD officers have filed for retirement amid the ongoing FBI investigation into whether officers accepted gifts in return for working as police escorts to influential businessmen.
Deputy Chief of Housing David Colon filed for retirement on Tuesday – a day after Deputy Inspector James Grant put in his papers, officials said.
Grant, head the Upper East Side's 19th Precinct, was stripped of his badge and gun last month. The decision came after the New York Post reported that the FBI was investigating claims that Grant had accepted diamonds and cash from a Brooklyn businessman.
Colon was transferred last month because of the investigation, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said at the time.
The investigation was launched by the NYPD at the end of 2013. The FBI and Justice Department joined the ongoing inquiry in early 2014, Bratton said.
"The police commissioner does not have the authority to prevent any officer from filing for retirement, that’s their right," Bratton said Wednesday.
"We’re going to continue the investigation. Mr. Grant has put his papers in to retire. We will go where the evidence takes us."
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Earlier this month, NYPD Inspector Michael Ameri was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound a short distance from his home in West Babylon. He had been questioned at his home by federal investigators and NYPD Internal Affairs officers about police escorts.
There has been no evidence that he was involved in any wrongdoing.
