Gang chief in Brooklyn DA's office is fired after slur accusations surface
The lawyer who headed the gang bureau in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office is out of a job, reportedly because of her insulting language.
Deanna Rodriguez was suspended for 90 days without pay during an investigation and then fired on Friday, report the New York Daily News, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and the New York Post. The Gothamist noted the stories.
The news stories cite prior allegations and anonymous sources who say Rodriguez used racial and homophobic slurs directed at subordinates. Assistant DAs in the gang bureau praised Rodriguez, the Post says, but other prosecutors said she had a reputation for tirades.
DA spokesman Jerry Schmetterer noted the investigation and said Rodriguez was fired at the end of the review. He did not specify why she was fired.
In May, Rodriguez apologized to the Anti-Violence Project, a group serving gay and transgender communities. “I humbly apologize for ever uttering any words of a derogatory nature offensive to the members of the LGBTQ community and vow to always be sensitive in the future with the words I use and those uttered in my presence,” she said.
Rodriguez had headed the gang bureau for 16 years. The Post spotted her on Friday wearing a sweatshirt sporting the words “Law Diva.” She told the newspaper that most of what has been written about her was inaccurate. “You’re writing the wrong story,” she said. “This is about vilifying me.”
