NYPD Counterterror Cop Ex-Husband Accused Of Unjustly Arresting Woman

DEBARYLIFE – In an internal investigator’s complaint, the ex-wife of an NYPD officer who patrols large gatherings and protests claims that the officer used her unfair arrest by other cops and detention for over a day as a ploy in their divisive child custody and visitation rights dispute.

Speech pathologist Sharon Maynard, who works for the city’s Education Department, described an experience she says transpired after her ex-husband, Officer Damian Douglas, lodged a report accusing her of aggravated harassment.

Due to this, on June 26 of last year, she was detained for 25 hours at the residence of Canarsie, Brooklyn, police officers from the 69th Precinct.

The subject of the harassment complaint—a copy of which the Daily News was able to obtain—was a text message that 39-year-old Maynard had sent earlier that day.

 

Maynard claimed in a letter requesting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the arrest that Douglas and his mother were verbally abusing the boys, based on what her two sons had told her.

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The letter also stated that she had complained to Douglas with the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau.

Recalling the entire event, Maynard said, “I lost something that day.” “Sitting in a windowless cell, being frisked, and being arrested in front of my fiancé, kids, and neighbors.” I had no idea what was going on; I was just left there.

According to documents, Maynard was not charged and the Brooklyn district attorney’s office declined to pursue him. On September 12, a judge in Family Court dismissed the accusation in the custody battle between the former couple as well.

Attorney Joel Berger for Maynard described the arrest as a “ridiculous charade.”

Berger declared, “What Douglas and his cronies did here is just beyond the pale.” After his ex-wife sent an acceptable text message, a cop exploited his position and power to have her jailed. And cops were his accomplices, helping and encouraging him.

In a letter dated Tuesday, Berger requested a meeting with NYPD Internal Affairs Chief Miguel Iglesias to discuss reopening the investigation into Douglas and the arresting officers.

Before it being assigned to a lower-level employee and disregarded as a “he said, she said,” Maynard had withdrawn her initial Internal Affairs Bureau complaint while retaining the opportunity to refile it, according to Berger’s letter.

In addition, Maynard sued the city for false arrest, claiming damages for lost wages and psychological distress. The city consented to pay her $65,000 to resolve the claim on March 5.

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Shortly after The News inquired on Thursday, the NYPD reopened its Internal Affairs Bureau probe and put Douglas on desk duty without his firearms and shield.

When contacted by phone on Thursday, Douglas responded, “Wow, she went to the media,” and gave The News his lawyer’s contact information.

Maynard’s claims are “wholly false,” according to his attorney Akram Louis.

“She initiated everything.” Louis claimed that “she was trying to get him fired and he was protecting himself.” He reported her harassment to the police. She is reluctant to give him the extra time he wants with the kids.

A disagreement over visitation, which the parties have subsequently settled, surrounded the events of the episode.

According to NYPD records, Douglas, 39, began working for the department in 2010 and throughout his 13 years there, he was arrested for 65 misdemeanors and 18 felonies. Douglas is currently assigned to the Critical Response Command, a “permanent cadre of hand-selected officers devoted to counterterrorism,” according to the NYPD website. Douglas is six feet one inch and weighs about three hundred pounds.

The statistics indicate that in 2023, he received $101,590 in salary plus an extra $17,962 for 248 hours of overtime.

2009 saw Douglas and Maynard get married, they split up in 2017, and they got divorced in January 2021. Their two boys, ages eleven and fifteen, belong to this family. Douglas was allowed visitation rights, but Maynard was given residential custody.

In his June 26 text message, Maynard accused Douglas and his mother of abusing her sons “emotionally and verbally,” a claim that was also included in the letter from the Internal Affairs Bureau. Douglas resides with his mom.

“After being yelled at, the lads are scared and shaken. Maynard wrote at 4:45 p.m., “I don’t understand why this seemed appropriate to the two of you.” “I will stop at nothing to protect my children if they don’t feel safe with their father and grandmother.”

With no criminal history and a master’s degree, Maynard continued to write that she had reported Douglas to the NYPD and that she intended to request a temporary restraining order against Douglas’ mother.

According to records, Douglas filed his harassment complaint at the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica, Queens, even though he lived in the 69th Precinct. The drive took him less than an hour.

Following their arrival at Maynard’s residence, 69th Precinct officers handcuffed her and transported her to the stationhouses of the 103rd, 69th, and Brooklyn Central Booking.

In front of her fiancé and her five kids, Berger claims the police “marched” her out of her house. However, she also acknowledges that the policemen were only told to make the arrest and had no idea why they were doing it.

Douglas petitioned the Family Court one day after Maynard was taken into custody. Douglas stated he had not filed any criminal complaints, according to a copy of the document.

A case of severe harassment is defined by law as requiring proof of behavior or activities “which alarm or seriously annoy another person and which serve no legitimate purpose.”

Berger states, “This kind of text message would never have led to an arrest by a rational police officer.”

Douglas filed Maynard’s Family Court petition, which was dismissed on September 12, one day after Maynard was arrested.

After the apprehension. For fear that he may accuse me of harassment and get me jailed once more, I am afraid to even talk to him,” Maynard remarked. “My heart still races every time I hear my doorbell ring at home, even after nearly a year. I simply want serenity because it’s been so stressful.