NYPD demands hospital retrain staff who withheld officer treatment
New York City Police department Commissioner Jessica Tisch has demanded that NYU Langone Health’s Cobble Hill emergency department retrain all staff after plainclothes NYPD detectives say they were met with rudeness and suggested to seek care elsewhere when staff allegedly mistook them for federal immigration agents. The detectives went to the ED after a drug suspect spat blood on them; the NYPD’s Detectives’ Endowment Association called the treatment disrespectful and is launching an investigation. NYU Langone expressed regret, said no one was denied care, and noted the injured officer received treatment after being asked to temporarily secure his weapon per hospital policy; the hospital declined to detail planned retraining. Elected officials-including Councilwoman vickie Paladino and former Mayor Eric Adams-condemned the episode, and the incident comes amid a citywide nurses’ strike over pay, staffing, and safety.
NYPD commissioner demands hospital retrain staff who withheld treatment from police officers
New York City Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch is demanding that a Brooklyn hospital retrain all of its staff after emergency room personnel mistreated NYPD officers whom they mistook for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The hospital said it “regret[s]” the conduct.
Several NYPD detectives were “met with rudeness, disrespect, and a lack of basic professional courtesy” at the Home Depot Emergency Department at New York University Langone Health—Cobble Hill last week, according to the NYC Detectives’ Endowment Association. The staff initially mistook the officers for federal immigration officers and suggested they go somewhere else for treatment, according to multiple reports.
“Reps from the hospital apologized to Commissioner Tisch and the NYPD and said that hospital staff had a misunderstanding of their policy. Commissioner Tisch asked that all hospital staff be retrained to ensure that this type of incident never happens again,” a spokesman for the NYPD said.
The NYPD spokesman said their officer “put their lives on the line to protect this city, and the very least they deserve in return is attentive medical care and to be treated with respect.”
The NYPD referred the Washington Examiner to NYU Langone for further comment on the incident and what the staff will be retrained on. A spokesperson for NYU Langone told the Washington Examiner that it had “expressed regret” over the incident, and that none of the officers were ultimately denied care. They did not specify what exact conduct the hospital apologized for.
“In this case, no one was denied care. Last Friday, three plainclothes NYPD officers came to our Cobble Hill ED, with one of them seeking care. We provided care to the injured officer, who was asked to temporarily secure his weapon, as per our policy. The other two officers were allowed to keep their weapons. NYU Langone always values the opportunity to provide care to members of law enforcement,” the hospital spokesperson said.
The NYU Langone spokesperson refused to provide further comment on the incident or retraining. The hospital said that in 2025, it provided emergency room care to about 1,000 NYPD officers.
“In our discussion with the Commissioner, we expressed our regret for how the situation was handled and reaffirmed our commitment to continue providing the highest quality care to the New York Police Department and all law enforcement agencies,” the hospital spokesperson said.
The DEA, the labor union representing NYC detectives, said it was launching an investigation into the incident and will “pursue all available remedies to ensure our members are treated with the dignity and respect they have earned.”
The three officers went to NYU Langone for care on Friday after a drug suspect spat blood on them, according to the New York Daily News and the New York Post.
Republican NYC Councilwoman Vickie Paladino wrote on X that the hospital staff “refused to treat” the officers.
“From what I understand, staff supposedly did this because they thought the NYPD officers might have been ‘ICE agents’ as if that is a valid excuse to refuse a patient. Let’s be very clear about something – when doctors and nurses and medical staff begin to refuse critical care over perceived political differences, we will have reached a breaking point in this country,” Paladino said.
Former New York Mayor Eric Adams called the incident a “total moral collapse.”
“A hospital that politicizes emergency care is no longer a hospital. It’s an activist institution pretending to practice medicine,” Adams wrote on X.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office referred the Washington Examiner to the NYPD for the department’s statement.
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The incident occurred as thousands of nurses across NYC are striking for workplace safety, better pay, and increased staffing in hospitals across the Big Apple. Mamdani has joined the nurses on the picket line.
“As nurses across the city strike over issues like workplace safety, treating Detectives poorly is not how to make hospitals safer,” the DEA said in their statement.
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