The Commissioner of the city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, Fidel Del Valle, has taken a leave of absence, citing what he called a “serious family medical situation.”
Mr. Del Valle’s leave, which he suggested in a Dec. 19 letter to First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan could last three months, came five weeks after he spewed an expletive-laced tirade at Police Officers at City Hall, one of whom had asked why he was entering its grounds.
Apologized to Officers
Mayor de Blasio said he had reviewed a police body-camera video of the Nov. 13 incident, and spoke with Commissioner James P. O'Neill and Mr. Fuleihan before he met with Mr. Del Valle, a longtime acquaintance.
“We talked it through, and came to the conclusion that it's time for him to take a leave to just deal with that situation,” the Mayor, referring to the family emergency, said at a Nov. 19 press conference where he introduced the city’s new Health Commissioner.
He suggested that the stress of what he called a “very profound family medical crisis,” which he did not otherwise detail, was a factor in Mr. Del Valle’s outburst. “I think that unfortunately was the underlying reality,” Mr. de Blasio said.
He said Mr. Del Valle had apologized to the two officers.
In his letter addressed to Mr. Fuleihan, Mr. Del Valle suggested that the leave could last into March. He wrote that the “serious family medical situation” the two had discussed would lead to a “procedure” in January and that rehabilitation should last about two months.
“In the interim,” he continued, OATH’s First Deputy Commissioner and Supervising Administrative Law Judge, John Burns, would take charge of its operations.
PBA Wants Him Fired
Regardless of the Commissioner’s reasons for his leave or what might have precipitated his outburst, Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick J. Lynch continued to call for his firing.
“A man of Commissioner Del Valle’s extreme ego, temperament and poor judgment should not be allowed to continue in a position of such importance,” he said in a statement. “He spewed a tirade of insults and threats at two NYC police officers who were doing their job properly at the gates of City Hall. That cannot go unpunished. His egomaniacal ways are an embarrassment to the Mayor’s administration and the City of New York. We don’t care how much money he has raised for the Mayor’s campaign, the NYC PBA will not rest until Del Valle is fired.”
Got Rude and Crude
According to the PBA, the two officers mentioned by Mr. Lynch had stopped Mr. Del Valle, as are all visitors who are not recognized. Mr. Del Valle, though, became irate and got into the officers’ faces, saying, “Who the f--- do you think you are?” the PBA said.
He then insisted on speaking with a supervisor and stated, “I come here every f------ day,” the PBA said in a letter to the Mayor, which was also sent to Commissioner O’Neill. He then reportedly repeatedly referred to the Officers as “f------ assholes.”
The Mayor said that Mr. Del Valle should not have reacted in such a manner and he commended the officers for their conduct during the incident.
“They did not deserve to be put through that, that was wrong, that should never happen from anyone—public servant or everyday New Yorker,” he said. “But knowing that there is an underlying reality, which is very difficult and painful, I think the leave is the appropriate course of action.”