NEW YORK – A suspended New York City police officer who have been accused — then later cleared — of spying for China is fighting to be reinstated, however the division desires him fired for refusing to be interrogated via the bureau of inner affairs exploring conceivable disciplinary motion.
The destiny of the officer, Baimadajie Angwang, now rests with an NYPD disciplinary pass judgement on who is thinking about arguments made earlier than her Tuesday.
The police division argues Angwang must be fired for insubordination, announcing he willfully disobeyed orders to publish himself to wondering in June. That got here two months after Angwang filed a lawsuit towards town announcing he was once wrongfully arrested when he was once taken into custody in September 2020 via government with weapons drawn as he ready to document for accountability at his Queens precinct.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office introduced Jan. 19 that it was once shedding all spying charges towards the officer, announcing prosecutors had exposed new information warranting their dismissal. That ended a two-year ordeal for Angwang, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Tibet, who have been accused of spying on expatriate Tibetans in New York on behalf of officers on the Chinese consulate within the town.
Despite his lengthy felony ordeal, Angwang mentioned at the stand Tuesday that he nonetheless desires to rejoin the power.
“I still want to be a police officer. I still want to serve,” he mentioned.
Angwang mentioned he refused to seem on the June 5 wondering as a result of he was once steered that the order was once illegal as a result of his new lawyers had been denied extra time to check with him and rise up to velocity with the case. Police additionally rejected requests for a witness listing and different paperwork forward of the listening to, which was once to center of attention on any wrongdoing that warranted self-discipline as a result of his interplay with Chinese officers in New York.
The attorney representing the police division, Penny Bluford-Garrett, argued that “taking orders” was once a part of the task, and that the dept’s inner affairs bureau “can investigate you for anything.”
The U.S. lawyer’s workplace in Brooklyn had first of all claimed that Angwang started operating as an agent for China in 2018 and was once secretly supplying information on Tibetans pushing for his or her native land’s independence from the communist executive. It mentioned he had labored to find attainable intelligence resources and determine attainable threats to Chinese pursuits.
Tibet has been a particularly delicate factor for communist China.
There was once no allegation that Angwang compromised nationwide safety or New York Police Department operations.
Angwang, 37, was once assigned to an NYPD precinct in Queens as a group liaison.
“Does he deserve to lose his job? The answer to both questions is absolutely not,” mentioned his attorney, Michael Bloch.
Instead, he mentioned, the dept must say, “Thank you for your service, sir, and welcome back.”
Angwang’s legal professionals, on the other hand, contend that the interrogation was once a setup to entrap the officer, regardless of having his federal case dropped via the Justice Department previous. An inner affairs lieutenant testified that he had ready a listing of one,700 questions for Angwang.
Angwang was once first notified on May 17 to seem 5 days later for wondering. But his lawyer were given a postponement till June 5, giving Anwang time to to find new lawyers.