The NYPD’s top uniformed officer, Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, has been served with a misconduct charge by the police department — and his case is now headed to an administrative trial, according to an official at a police oversight board that will lead the prosecution.

Last month, the Civilian Complaint Review Board voted to substantiate a charge of abuse of authority against Maddrey for ordering the release and voiding the arrest of an ex-cop in Brooklyn in late 2021, and recommended that he be disciplined with loss of up to 10 vacation days.

That level of penalty is normally meted out directly by the police commissioner, and it’s typically only cases where more significant penalties are sought — including up to termination — that go to administrative trials overseen by the NYPD.

CCRB investigators found that last month that Maddrey ordered the release and voided the arrest of ex-cop Kruythoff Forrester, who was detained by cops in Brownsville’s 73rd precinct in November 2021 after pursuing three kids who had thrown a basketball at his family’s storefront camera — and allegedly pointing a gun at one of them.

Maddrey showed up at the precinct that night and within an hour of arriving ordered that Forrester’s arrest be reversed, the board found.

The ex-cop spent less than 40 minutes behind bars, video previously published by THE CITY shows. Forrester couldn’t be reached for comment.

CCRB officials couldn’t explain what prompted the police department to file the paperwork this week that signals a case is moving to an administrative trial. 

But the New York Post, citing unnamed sources, reported on Wednesday that NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell hit Maddrey with the loss of between 6 and 10 vacation days, and that Maddrey opted instead to fight that penalty by taking the case to an internal trial.

Maddrey’s attorney Lambros Lambrou, disputed that the NYPD had served Maddrey with any charges, although he confirmed that the case is headed to administrative trial. Lambrou said the chief is not willing to accept any punishment over the incident. 

“He’s completely in the right. He’s relying on the fact that the Brooklyn DA, which has nothing to do with Jeff Maddrey, made a decision to not criminally charge this retired police officer because there’s no evidence the guy committed a crime,” Lambrou told THE CITY. “We’re looking forward to him being exonerated in the trial room and there’ll be ample evidence that he conducted himself properly and appropriately.” 

The office of Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez investigated the Nov. 24, 2021 incident and its aftermath in the weeks afterward, but found no criminality.

Lambrou didn’t respond directly when asked whether Sewell had presented Maddrey with a penalty.

An NYPD spokesperson said the agency doesn’t comment on open disciplinary cases.

A lawyer for the three boys, MK Kaishian, said the police disciplinary system is one that’s designed to serve the interests of police.

“So-called due process looks very different for Chief Maddrey and his friends than it does for regular New Yorkers regularly subjected to the whims of the NYPD,” she said. 

‘Utmost Confidence’

The boys — now 15-year-old Kyi-el, his 14-year-old brother, Brendan, and their 15-year-old cousin, Kawun — said Forrester pursued them across three blocks for seven minutes after their ball struck the building’s security camera.

In recent interviews, Kyi-el said they feared for their lives that night.

The cops who were first to arrive on scene on Nov. 24, 2021 found Forrester with a licensed firearm in a holster on his right side, but he repeatedly denied taking it out that night.

Maddrey showed up at the 73rd precinct house barely an hour after Forrester was arrested, after the ex-cop asked officers multiple times to call Maddrey on his behalf, video previously obtained by THE CITY shows. 

Maddrey, who served as the NYPD’s Chief of Community Affairs at the time, had supervised Forrester at the 73rd precinct when Maddrey served as its commanding officer for three years.

The CCRB found that Maddrey reversed Forrester’s arrest after Maddrey and deputy chief Scott Henderson spent less than an hour interviewing the arresting patrol sergeant and reviewing the limited body camera and security camera footage available at the time.

The probe also found that Maddrey was able to offer no explanation to investigators for how the kids were able to describe Forrester’s “distinctive firearm so similarly” and accurately.

Mayor Eric Adams, under whose administration Maddrey was promoted twice last year, has stood by his chief of department — saying in March that he had the “utmost confidence” in Maddrey.

This story has been updated.