NYC Police Union Faces Backlash for Hiring Ex-NYPD Sergeant Linked to Controversy
DEBARYLIFE – After being forced to resign from the NYPD due to the death of an elderly woman suffering from schizophrenia in The Bronx, the disgraced officer has found new employment with one of the city’s police unions, The Post has learned.
The NYPD’s Sergeants Benevolent Association website describes Hugh Barry as a reimbursement coordinator. Barry was tried and found not guilty of murder and manslaughter in the 2016 death of Deborah Danner, age 66.
In 2023, Barry was compelled to step down after an internal investigation into the deadly incident revealed that he had “exercised poor tactical judgment.”
After it resolved a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Danner’s twin sister Jennifer, who opted not to comment, the city was forced to pay $2 million for his acts while he was employed.
The SBA did not reply to repeated requests for comment from The Post, so it was unclear what Barry’s new role at the organization includes or when he began working there.
Barry did not pick up the phone.
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After 911 received reports indicating the mentally ill woman had been acting strangely, Barry was sent to Danner’s Castle Hill residence in October 2016.
Danner was a writer who opened out about her struggles with mental illness. She was shot and killed shortly after she picked up a baseball bat.
Barry, a sergeant in the NYPD at the time, claimed he fired in self-defense.
As the first on-duty police officer to be charged with murder since 1999, Barry was detained in 2017 after shooting Danner.
In 2018, a judge cleared the eight-year veteran of the NYPD.