Judge Slams NYPD Sergeant Who Killed Bronx Woman

The NYPD judge who called for the firing of a sergeant for shooting dead an emotionally disturbed woman in her Bronx apartment blasted his “gross distortions of the truth,” according to department documents posted online.

Sgt. Hugh Barry killed Deborah Danner , 66, on Oct. 18, 2016 — seven years ago Wednesday — contending she had picked up a baseball bat and was swinging it at him.

Barry was charged with murder , manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide but was acquitted in 2018. He was then brought up on administrative charges and stood trial at NYPD headquarters in 2022.

Finally, on Sept. 22, he was notified that Deputy Commissioner of Trials Rosemarie Maldonado had recommended he be found guilty of using poor tactical judgment and setting the killing in motion, and not guilty of failing to supervise other officers on the scene.

Police Commissioner Edward Caban, who has the final say in all disciplinary matters, agreed with Maldonado’s recommendation but modified the penalty, with Barry agreeing to resign after serving a 30-day suspension. That allows him to collect his pension in five years.

Maldonado had recommended Barry be fired, noting his testimony “fell apart under the weight of the credible evidence.”

“His unabashed obstinacy on cross-examination raised serious questions about his character, credibility and judgment,” she wrote. “The preponderance of the credible evidence has led this tribunal to conclude that the most critical portions of respondent’s account were embellished with self-serving and fabricated details directed at minimizing his culpability.”

Maldonado also said Barry had put enough space between him and Danner but that by moving toward the diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, he “took the significant and unreasonable risk of instigating an unsafe encounter rather than preventing it.”

Caban in his decision didn’t explain why he modified the dismissal penalty recommended by Maldonado.