Image: AP

The chair of New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, an independent government agency tasked with reviewing complaints against the NYPD, announced his resignation today. The news comes one day after the CCRB’s executive director filed a lawsuit him, alleging that he referred to her and other female employees as “pussies” and “[trampled] on the rights of and [retaliated] against those who complain about his misogynistic views.”

Yesterday’s lawsuit was just the latest of this year’s scandals for Richard Emery. In February, the New York Daily news reported that the chairman’s private civil rights law firm was representing a man who was suing New York City over police misconduct after filing a CCRB complaint. When police union leaders freaked out about it, Emery said they were “squealing like a stuck pig,” which was either a very careful word choice or a very careless one.

Then came the suit from CCRB executive director Mina Malik, which claimed, among other things, that Emery retaliated against her by cutting her responsibilities and “laying the groundwork for (her) eventual termination” when she complained about his alleged misogyny.

Emery addressed his resignation in a press release distributed by the mayor’s office this afternoon. “After a lengthy substantive discussion with the Mayor, he and I agree that the confluence of recent circumstances will preclude me from further fulfilling my goals as Chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board (“CCRB”),” he wrote. “The issues of inhibitions on my law practice, several of my recent public statements and recent litigation have created daily distractions from the success of the CCRB.”