Jewish Cop Transferred After Busting Prosecutor for DWI

By Michael Kaminer June 14, 2011

The NYPD transferred Officer Elliott Zinstein from the Bronx to Greenpoint, Brooklyn because the neighborhood supposedly needed more Jewish cops, according to today’s NY Daily News.

But there are a couple of reasons why Zinstein — an Orthodox Jew — wasn’t buying the explanation. For one thing, the Jewish population is much higher in the neighboring 90th Precinct in Williamsburg, the paper said. For another, Zinstein believes the department’s punishing him for busting a Bronx prosecutor for DWI — and refusing to cut her a break.

According to the paper, Zinstein arrested Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Troiano on the Major Deegan Expressway last August “after she got into a three-car wreck. Reeking of booze and wandering into traffic, Troiano ‘was stumbling and falling down and unable to keep her balance,’ court records show.”

Troiano, who refused a Breathalyzer test, reportedly told the Jewish cop to call Nestor Ferreiro, chief of narcotics in the Bronx district attorney’s office, the Daily News said. “He’ll take care of this,” sources quoted her as saying. “He took care of it the last time.” The allegedly inebriated prosecutor had skirted arrest at least twice before running into Zinstein, according to the News. “He was doing his job,” a colleague told the News, referring to Zinstein’s arrest of Troiano. “He’s a good cop. He’s made a lot of arrests and has no disciplinary record.”

With that in mind, the NYPD has reportedly offered to transfer Zinstein again — to any precinct he wants. “He was told to figure out where he wants to work,” one source said. “The lieutenant said he would make it happen for him.” The News said Zinstein has yet to act on that offer.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO